The Way She Smiles When She Sees Me
by Halawen
Summary: Many changes at DeGrassi this semester; new junior pro hockey team, Eclare is back together, and Drew has an after school job at The Interpreter, just where Clare has her co-op placement. Working together a friendship forms, but Drew does not trust Clare's mentor Asher. Does he have reason to mistrust him? What will Drew do? Slight A/U Clew slow-burn. Please read A/Ns.
1. Ain't Got Nothing but this Roll

**Welcome to the new Clew story!**

 **I want to thank everyone that voted in the poll.**

 **Legal: I own nothing but the idea.**

 **Important information to know before reading:**

 ***Drew & Katie broke up over winter break and Drew got back together with Bianca.**

 ***Fiona did not lose her money and her mom is not under house arrest.**

 ***Uniforms were never enforced.**

 ***Cam does not exist in this story and thus is not a part of the hockey team.**

 ***Caitlin married Joey and still has her show.**

 **That should do it, the rest is in the chapter.**

 **Hope you all enjoy!**

 **Ch. 1 Ain't Got Nothing but this Roll of the Die**

 **(CLARE)**

"I should talk to Eli, no I should let him come to me," I comment as I walk into the Torres basement.

"You should relax Clare," Alli advises from my side.

"It's Eli, he'll come to you," Jenna remarks from my other side.

Today was our first day back at school after winter break. We had an assembly to announce our new hockey team, which I already knew about due to one of them being billeted with Adam. To welcome the new hockey team, and because the Torres parents were away for the night, there was a party at the Torres house tonight. Alli, Jenna and I had just arrived. Mom let me borrow the car to come tonight, and I was more anxious than I probably should be for a party at Adam's.

I wasn't nervous about the party itself. I wasn't nervous about the hockey team or anything like that. My nervous feeling was because Eli and I had kissed before break. I hadn't talked to him since, we hadn't even talked today at school. Homeroom had been cancelled due to the assembly, but I didn't even see Eli after the assembly. Alli and I had co-op all morning, so we didn't have class after the assembly, but Eli did. He was busy at lunch, meeting with Simpson I heard, and not having any afternoon classes with him I hadn't seen him all day. Thus we had not talked about the kiss, although I hadn't been nervous about it all day, not until after school.

I hadn't talked to Eli about the kiss (or at all), however while Alli, Jenna and I were getting ready for the party at my house we did talk about the kiss. We talked about the kiss, the implications, and what it might mean for Eli and I. If I truly wanted to get back together with him? What I thought he thought about the kiss? What I thought he thought I thought about the kiss? The three of us talked about it so much I was nervous to see Eli now. I wanted to know what he thought, and if he thought was what I was thinking. If he wanted to get back together, because I was now sure that I did.

"You're right," I nod forcing myself to breathe, "let's enjoy the party."

We enter the party and are greeted by a wolf-whistle from Dallas. "Good evening beautiful, sexy ladies. Would any of you like a beer? Or maybe a kiss?"

"Dallas, no hitting on my best friend," Adam says taking my arm.

"But she's hot, their all hot," Dallas grins.

"No dating my best friend," Adam reiterates.

"Why not? You planning to date her?" Drew questions making Adam's cheeks go red.

"I'm just not letting Dallas date her," Adam replies.

"That's fine, there's still these two sexy ladies," Dallas smiles at them. It reminds me of a cartoon wolf smiling at a lamb he wants to eat.

"Yes, well this sexy lady is taken," Dave comments pulling Alli to him and giving her a long kiss. Dallas doesn't even blink, just turns his sights on Jenna.

"Not happening," Jenna says pushing past him to go to the food. The rest of us laugh at Dallas getting shot down, although he doesn't really look disappointed. I'm sure he's just waiting for the next girl to come through the door.

"These three are just too high class for you," Drew chuckles.

"Who's too high class for Dallas?" Bianca questions coming in.

"Clare, Alli and Jenna," Adam replies.

"Yep, waaaaay too high class for Dallas," Bianca laughs. Dallas grimaces at her, Drew takes Bianca in his arms and greets her with a kiss.

I link my arm with Adam and walk off with him. Adam and I go to the fireplace and start talking, Jenna joins us after a few minutes, and then Connor. I don't realize I've been talking to them so long until I realize how full the basement has gotten.

"I'm going to get a drink," I tell them as I stand up. Adam nods, I start walking to the kitchenette where the food is, but then I see Eli. I stop walking, watching him talk to Fiona and Imogen, wondering if I should go over there. Before I can make a decision, I get bumped into from behind and it sends me knocking into Owen.

"Whoa," Owen says catching me. At least, the hockey player has fast reflexes. "You're not going to get girls by trying to run them over Baker," Owen says with a laugh as he helps me to stand.

"Sorry, didn't see her, she's so short," the boy shrugs.

"You alright Clare?" Eli questions appearing suddenly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I smile stepping away from Owen.

"You want to go get some air?" Eli asks. I nod, he takes my hand and we go outside. "So, enjoying the party?" He asks sort of awkwardly.

"Yeah, it's alright. The new hockey team is rather loud and kind of rowdy though."

"Yeah, I've only met a couple, but I think the school could have done without a new hockey team."

"Eli," I venture deciding I'll have to be the one to broach the subject, "about the kiss…I've been thinking about it all during break."

"So, have I."

"Then why didn't you say anything?"

"You were worried about us even being friends again. When we were together things got intense and they didn't end well. If we do this again I want us both to be all in."

"Eli, I am all in."

Eli grins, his hand combs into my hair and he brings our lips together for a happy fervent kiss. We break from the kiss when we hear people whistling.

"Guess DeGrassi's hottest couple is back," Bianca comments.

"I thought we were DeGrassi's hottest couple," Drew says with his boyish grin and wiggling his eyebrows.

"Damn right we are," Bianca grins smashing her lips to his. They start sucking face, it's rapidly getting hot, hotter than I want to see and I look back at Eli.

"You want a ride home? Dave is taking Alli and Jenna home, I have my mom's car."

"Yeah, thanks I've definitely had enough of this party," Eli replies.

He never did let go of my hand, so we walk to the car with our fingers still intertwined and he kisses me before I get into the car. I take him home, he kisses me again before he leaves the car and I drive home with a smile. Our parents are in bed, Jake didn't go tonight, so he covered for me in case I was out late.

"How was the party?" Jake asks coming out of his room.

"Great," I grin.

"I take it the smile means you and Eli got back together?"

"Yep."

"I knew it," he smirks.

I say goodnight to Jake and start getting ready for bed. Eli calls while I'm getting ready for bed, we talk the rest of the night, and fall asleep still on the phone. I wake to his gentle rhythmic breathing and it makes me smile. I wake Eli up by calling his name through the phone, and tell him I'll see him at school before hanging up. I get ready for bed, tell Mom Eli and I are back together at breakfast, and then go to school with Jake. While I'm at my locker putting in books Eli comes over, kissing my cheek.

"I've been thinking," Eli says leaning against the locker next to mine.

"A dangerous prospect when it comes to you," I tease him. He twists his mouth at me, tickling my side a little.

"We should go on a first date, like a re-first date."

"I like the idea of re-first date," I grin.

"Good, how about tonight?" Eli asks.

"Tonight, is perfect," I smile. Eli spins me around, flashes me his smirk and then captures my lips.

"It warms my heart to see you two kissing again," Adam speaks up breaking us from our kiss, "of course this means I'm the third wheel again."

"Adam, you are not a third wheel!" I contest.

"She's right Adam," Eli says putting his arm around Adam's shoulders, "you are a not a third wheel at all. We just need to find you the right girl and then we can double."

"Yeah, good luck with that. My one and only relationship with a girl was very short, and she only wanted to be with me because she was a closeted lesbian."

"There's a girl for you Adam, have some faith," I tell him. He gives me a doubting look but doesn't say anything.

"I need to get to my locker before chemistry," Eli comments. He kisses my cheek and waves to Adam before disappearing down the hall.

"So, the happy couple is reunited finally," Adam smiles opening his locker.

"Yeah, after last spring I didn't think Eli and I would even be friends again. After this summer and winter break it feels right," I grin putting my English and physics book in my locker.

Adam smiles and asks how it happened last night, I tell him everything as he walks me to class. He leaves me at my classroom with a wave before walking off to his math class. I tell Alli about getting back together with Eli before class starts.

"I'm happy to announce that we have our first placement. Let's all congratulate Clare on her placement at The Interpreter where she'll be working with one of my favorite journalists; Asher Shostak," Miss Oh announces. The class applauds, and I smile wide, very excited because I got my first choice! "Clare you and I will meet to talk about what you can expect, go over some things including the schedule they sent over. The rest of you, please work on your introduction letters, or if you have not made all your selections please do so now. If you have any questions come to my desk. Clare why don't come over to my desk?"

I get up and follow Miss Oh to her desk. We go over basic office conduct which I already knew. Then she tells me the schedule they expect me to keep to. I work every morning during co-op, which is standard of course. What I wasn't expecting was they also want me to come most of the afternoons after school. Mornings will be easy, I can take the truck once we're at school, but after school I'm not sure, I'll have to talk to Jake about taking the truck after school. Miss Oh informs me that my first shift is in fact today after school. Since, I don't need second period as I've already been placed, and it's not enough time to go to co-op I have a free period. At lunch I go to my locker, finding Adam at his locker and Eli finds us.

"I got my co-op placement," I tell them with a delighted tone.

"Already, that was fast. Does your level of excitement mean you got your first choice?" Eli questions.

"I did! Working at the Interpreter with Asher Shostak," I practically squeal.

"Congratulations Clare! So, is your first shift tomorrow?" Adam inquires while Eli is hugging me. Adam hugs me when Eli releases me.

"Actually, my first shift is after school. I need to go find Jake and ask if I can take the truck after school."

"Don't bother Jake. I'll borrow Dad's car, take you to co-op and pick you up after your shift for our re-first date," Eli tells me.

"Thanks Eli, but how are you going to get your dad's car?"

"I'll call him right now, I'm sure he can drive it over and I can run him home and be back in time for third period. I'll meet you two in the memorial garden for lunch?"

He smirks and walks off; Adam and I get our lunches then go to the memorial garden. Eli joins us after a couple minutes and tells us his dad is bringing the car. He eats with us for about ten minutes before his dad calls and Eli tells us he'll be back before lunch is over before going out to meet his dad. Adam and I finish lunch, tossing our trash and returning to our lockers. I only see Eli long enough for him to give me a quick kiss he goes off to class. English and physics, both classes I generally enjoy, seem to drag on today. It's probably because I'm anxious and excited to get to co-op. When school finally does let out Adam and Alli wish me luck at co-op, I say goodbye to them and meet Eli on the steps. He takes me to co-op, wishes me luck and kisses me before I get out of the car. He says he'll pick me up at six, I wave to him before going inside. I press the button for the elevator and when it dings I'm surprised to see someone I know in it.

"Clare!" Drew exclaims just as surprised to see me.

"Hi Drew," I smile stepping in.

"What floor?" He asks as the doors begin to close.

"Nine."

"You're going to the Interpreter too?" Drew asks.

"Yeah, it's my co-op placement with Asher Shostak. Why are you going to the Interpreter?"

"I don't know who Asher Shostak is, but the advertising exec Martin Christiansen went to college with my dad. He got me a job here, my parents thought it would be good for me to have an after-school job," Drew explains. The elevator has reached our floor and we step off.

"Guess we'll be working together then, or at least on the same floor. Asher is one of the reporters here," I tell Drew and he grins. "Clare Edwards for Asher Shostak," I tell the young man at the front desk.

"And Drew Torres for Martin Christiansen."

"Yes, our high school help. We've been expecting you both. One moment while I let them know you're here," the guy replies. He picks up the phone and I turn to Drew.

"Adam didn't tell me you had a job at The Interpreter."

"He didn't tell me you would be working here either. We could have come together," Drew replies.

"Eli gave me a ride today, but since they do expect me after school most days it would be great if I could ride with you instead of taking Jake's truck."

"Yeah, no problem," Drew says just as I see Asher coming.

 **(DREW)**

A man comes around the corner, a man I know isn't Martin so I assume he's Asher. He's also looking right at Clare, and totally ignoring me.

"Clare, it's a pleasure to meet you. Come with me, I'll show you to your desk and get you situated," Asher smiles putting a hand at her back. She waves to me and follows him back then I see Martin coming.

"Welcome Drew, good to have you here. To get started I need you to fill out some paperwork, and then I'll show you around," Martin tells me.

"Cool."

I follow him to his office, he shows me where I'll be working and I fill out some paperwork on the computer. Standard employment forms he tells me, though I've never had to fill them out before as I've never had a job before, and I ask a few questions. Once I'm done with that I go to HR and get my picture taken for my employee ID. After that Martin shows me around, we pass by Clare, but she's working hard and doesn't even look up. I know where her desk is anyway, we also pass by Asher's office, his office and a few others have no walls, or rather all the walls are made of glass so you can see everything, it's kind of odd.

After giving me the tour we return to Martin's office, his walls are not made of glass, and he goes over my responsibilities and work schedule. My very first task is to scan in a whole lot of documents and then file them. After I get everything scanned I take a short break to use the washroom and get some water. On my way back to my desk I see Asher with Clare, he has his hand on her shoulder and he's leaning over her, I suppose to look at what's on her screen. From my view however, it looks like he's looking down her dress. I walk just past them and linger at the wall pretending to look at all the awards on it, a lot of them are for Asher.

"Excellent work Newsie, truly excellent you're going to be a huge asset. I need to go cover a protest at Stell Labs, why don't you come along?" Asher offers.

"Really? You want me to come with you?" Clare asks excitedly.

"Yeah, it would be great experience for you and I could use an assistant. I have to leave in five minutes though," Asher replies.

"I'll come. I just need to make a phone call first," Clare tells him. Asher walks back to his office and Clare gets out her phone. I stick around to hear her side of the conversation. "Hi Eli, I hate to cancel our re-first date, but they need me at work…you sure you'll be okay?...Eli!...I knew that you know, but don't joke like that…me too I'll see you tomorrow Eli."

"You coming Newsie?" Asher asks walking past her desk.

"Yeah," she says grabbing her purse and coat from her desk. She starts to run after Asher and turns to look back at me, "See you tomorrow Drew."

I wave to her and return to my desk. I finish my shift, but I keep thinking about Asher with Clare earlier. Maybe he wasn't looking down her dress, but it sure looked like it to me. Not just that, there was something about the way he touched her, even when he first met her, that thinking back on it gives me an uneasy feeling. Not to mention his nickname for her, that doesn't sit well with me either. I decide to keep my eye on Asher, especially around Clare, but with everyone else too. It is possible he's just that way with everyone, instinct tells me no, but I'll watch him. I finish my work, tell Martin I'm done and he says he'll see me tomorrow. I clock out, go down to the parking garage and drive home.

"I'm home," I call as I enter. I lock the door, hang up my jacket and walk into the living room where I find my parents watching the news on the sofa.

"How was work Honey?" Mom asks pausing the TV.

"Good, I like working with Martin. I didn't meet too many other people though, they were all busy."

"Did you see Clare? Adam told us her co-op placement is there with Asher Shostak," Mom comments.

"Yeah, I did. We ran into each other in the elevator. I told her she could ride with me when she had to work after school."

"That was nice of you Son, I'm sure Clare and your brother will appreciate that you're looking out for her," Dad says.

"I'm sure Clare's parents will too," Mom adds. "If you're hungry I left a plate for you in the stove."

"Thanks Mom, I'm going to take my dinner downstairs. I've still got homework."

They start watching the news again while I get my dinner out of the oven. I put it on another plate and go down to the basement. Adam is down here, watching TV and still doing homework. He must have been doing something after school, because it never takes him this long to do his homework.

"How was work?" Adam asks when he sees me coming down the stairs.

"Good, why didn't you tell Clare I had a job at The Interpreter?"

"Oddly, you don't come up very often in my conversations with her," Adam replies in a snarky tone.

"Fine. Why didn't you tell me she had her co-op placement there?"

"I didn't know until lunch, and I didn't see you all afternoon. I was going to tell her you worked there after I found out about her placement, but she was excited and talking about it so much I never got a chance. Then Eli joined us and they were talking, I kind of forgot to mention it at all. Guess you saw her there?"

"Yeah, in the elevator. We talked a few minutes before her co-op mentor came to get her. Then I saw her before she left with him," I reply before taking a bite of my dinner.

"Wait, she left with Asher? I thought she had her re-first date with Eli?"

"She broke it to cover a protest with Asher."

"How do you know this and I don't?"

"I overheard Asher ask her to come, then overheard her phone call to Eli. So, what did you do after school? Because I know it doesn't take you this long to do your homework." I'm not telling him about my worries over Asher's behavior for two reasons. First, I only saw them for a few minutes, I'm not even sure there's something to be worried about. Secondly, he's her best friend, if there is nothing to worry about Adam will worry anyway and needlessly. He'll probably say something to Eli and he overreacts to like everything! Or Adam could say something to Clare, which could lead her to being paranoid and overthinking, and I know she does that. Worse, she could get mad at me for being worried over nothing.

"Tried out for a band Mo is putting together. He said he'd let me know tomorrow. I didn't get home until just before dinner."

"Cool, being in a band could be good for you."

I finish my dinner and then start on my homework. As usual Adam helps me with my math and nutrition and health homework. Adam goes to take a shower when he's done, and I start on my geography homework. I'm reading the assigned chapter when my cell rings, and smile when I see my girlfriend's beautiful face on my phone. She asks about work and I tell her, she tells me about Bright Sparks, and she saw Adam trying out for the band. I tell her about Clare also working at The Interpreter, and then we talk about classes, she even helps me with the geography homework since she already did it. I'm still talking to her when Dallas comes in, he had Ice Hounds practice and then was doing homework at Owen's, so we knew he'd be home late. I wave to Dallas, but I'm still on the phone with Bianca. Dallas goes into his room and I start gathering my stuff to take upstairs. I stay on the phone with Bianca through all of it, talking to her until I start getting ready for bed.

It's not until I'm in bed and starting to fall asleep that I start thinking about Asher with Clare. The moment Asher first greeted her plays over in my head, I didn't think about it at the time, but watching it replay I don't like where he put his hand when they first met. He really shouldn't have been touching her at all, but he put his hand at the small of her back and left it there as they walked away. What really gives me a sinking feeling from my chest to a pit at the bottom of my stomach is what happened later. Watching Asher with his hand on Clare's shoulder, leaning over her and (from what I saw) looking at her chest, brought up that protective instinct in me. I can't quite explain it, but when I saw them I got the same feeling I get when I'm worried about Adam. Even the nickname Asher calls her gives me that feeling. Okay, so Newsie isn't as bad as calling her Baby or something. Still, it gave me an uneasy feeling, it just sounds like a pet name and your boss should not have a pet name for you.

I could be wrong, maybe there's nothing to worry about. Maybe it's all perfectly innocent, still my gut is telling me there is something to worry about. I'm determined to keep my eye on them and pay close attention to Asher's behavior and interactions with everyone.

 **(CLARE)**

"Good morning Blue Eyes," Eli greets me at my locker Thursday morning, "I guess there was a lot for you to do at work for your first day?"

"Sorry I had to cancel our re-first date, but Asher was covering the protest at Stell Labs and wanted me to go with him. It was an opportunity I just couldn't pass up."

"It's okay, I understand. Your boss must be really impressed with you to take you on an assignment on your first day."

"I hope so, Asher is amazing! He knows so much, I learned a lot just watching him. I have co-op again after school today, no shift tomorrow after school though. Can we do our re-first date then?"

"Tomorrow night it is," Eli grins and gives me a quick kiss. "I can't take you to co-op after school I'm going to talk to Simpson about doing a play this semester. I was thinking _Death of a Salesman_ , a modern re-telling."

"Sounds great Eli, I can't wait to see it. Just promise me no more plays about us," I tease him.

"No more plays about us," Eli smirks. "Jake will let you take the truck after school right?"

"I don't need to borrow the truck, Drew will take me."

"Uh, Drew? Did I miss when Drew became your personal chauffer?"

"No, he's working at the Interpreter too. He said I could ride with him whenever I needed to."

"Oh cool. Wait, he's not in co-op this year."

"No," I laugh, "it's a paid job. He's working in the marketing department, but it's every day after school."

"Good, Drew needs a job, keep him out of trouble," Eli smirks. When I twist my mouth at him for the snarky comment he kisses me.

"Hey guys," Adam greets us.

"Morning Adam, why didn't you tell us Drew has a job at The Interpreter?" I question.

"I kind of forgot in your excitement, you and Eli were talking about you re-first date, it just slipped my mind. Wasn't even sure you'd see each other there."

"It was a surprise, but at least I have a ride after school when I need it. Jake was happy to know that I wouldn't need to borrow the truck as much. I need to get to my locker and stash my books before I leave for co-op."

They come with me, Adam visits his locker as well. I stash my books, say goodbye to the boys and go out to the truck. I got a parking pass yesterday along with an ID that says I'm a student intern. I go straight to Asher's office to let him know that I'm here, only he isn't in his office. I do see a large stack of fact checking on my desk however. I get to work on fact checking, I'm deep into it and concentrating hard when I feel a hand on my shoulder. I look up to see Asher smiling at me.

"Looks like you've already gotten through most of the fact checking I left you, excellent work. I knew you'd be intelligent enough to know what you needed to do without me having to leave instructions. I undeniably made the right choice for my student intern," Asher says.

His compliment makes me smile, "Thank you Asher. That means a lot, and I'm very excited to be working with you. I know I'm going to learn a lot from you."

"Yes you will Newsie," Asher smiles. "You should finish up the fact checking, you have to be back at school soon don't you?"

I look at the clock on the computer, "I do. If I'm going to be back in time for lunch."

"You need to eat lunch Newsie, it's important. You'll be back after school for your shift right?"

"Yes, I'll be here, I'll get a ride with Drew."

"Drew, yes he goes to your school as well. I hear he got a job in the marketing department. It's good that you two can carpool. I have to get back to work, but I'll see you this afternoon Newsie."

Asher goes to his office and I go back to fact checking. When I finish I let Asher know I'm returning to school and I've finished the fact checking. I get back to school just before lunch, grabbing my lunch from my locker, and take it to the memorial garden. The halls begin to fill even before the bell rings. Adam, Eli, Alli, Jenna and Dave join me with their lunches after the bell rings. I find out Alli got her placement with a research hospital, she tells us she didn't do much today, but her mentor is nice. Adam tells us about the band tryouts and that he made it, first rehearsal is after school today. He says Imogen made the band too, but he doesn't know who else did. Eli asks how my co-op was and I tell them it was all fact checking. When the bell rings Eli gives me a quick kiss before Adam and I walk off to English class.

"Hey Adam, do you know what class Drew has now? Or can you text him for me and let him know I need a ride to co-op please?" I request as we leave last period.

"Why would Drew give you a ride?" Connor inquires.

"Because he's working at The Interpreter too," Adam explains while he fidgets with his phone. "There, now you have Drew's number you can ask him for a ride yourself."

"Thanks Adam," I grin just as my phone alerts me to a text. I save the contact in my phone as I tell Adam to have a good time at rehearsal. I tell everyone else I'll see them tomorrow and text Drew while walking towards the front.

 **Clare: It's Clare, hope you don't mind that Adam gave me your number. I need a ride to co-op.**

 **Drew: I don't mind at all. I'll meet you on the steps in a minute.**

Just as he said Drew comes out a moment later. He grins and I follow him to his car.

"How was your shift this morning?" Drew asks as he begins driving.

"Fine, Asher wasn't there for most of it and all I did was fact checking."

"That's good," he says sounding strangely relieved and then quickly adds, "uh I mean you're learning the ropes and stuff."

"Yeah, you are too I'm sure."

"Yep, I learned how to scan and where to file things yesterday. What about last night? You went to the protest with him?" Drew asks.

"That was great! I learned a lot just by watching him, Asher is amazing he knows just the right questions to ask and who to talk to. I'm eager to let him teach me anything he can, I want to be an investigative journalist just like him."

"Clare, I have to ask; you're super smart, from what Adam tells me brilliant. You were in advanced classes and everything, so why do you want to be a journalist?"

 **Update soon picking up from right here and Drew's trepidation about Asher growing. Hope you all enjoyed this first chapter. Next to be updated is** _ **Alone on a School Night.**_


	2. Night is Gone Awful Fast

**Be sure to visit the DeGrassi Saviors website to vote on the short story that will replace** _ **Best Thing that Never Happened**_ **. You have choices, two period fics and two Clowen stories, a Clowen twist on Lady Chatterly's Lover by D.H. Lawerence & a Clowen twist on the BBC mini series Jekyll.**

 **Ch. 2 Night is Gone Awful Fast**

 **(DREW)**

"It wasn't my first choice in career," she replies. Her tone is heavy, sad and sort of distant. She looks away from me and out the window. "I wanted to be a lot of things over the years, I guess everyone does. I suppose I first thought about being an investigative journalist sometime after Darcy was raped. Knowing that, seeing all she was going through was really hard. I was being kept in the dark, so I tried to find everything I could about rape. I wanted to know, I needed to know, to understand what was going on. I wanted to know how to help my sister, nothing I found told me how to help her really, but having the knowledge made me feel better. I didn't find a lot, not a lot is published on rape and most of the websites are about available support groups or statistics. I found one really good article from a magazine about girls being raped after being drugged or passed out drunk. That's what happened to Darcy, she was drugged. It got into more detail than any other articles, the journalist talked to offenders, victims, families of both, and even psychologists. Reading that article made feel empowered in a way over a situation I had been completely powerless over. Anyway, I wanted to do that, to write powerful articles that change people's minds and influence them, empower them, make them curious and thirst for more."

"I didn't even know you had a sister, I'm sorry she was raped and that you went through that. Where is Darcy now?"

"Africa, she left before her senior year," Clare tells me.

She's still looking out the window, and I can tell by her tone that she doesn't want to talk about it any longer. I feel bad for making her think about it, I was curious though. I don't want her to go to co-op all sad, and thinking about her sister's rape. Hoping to cheer her up a little I bring up something I'm sure will make her smile.

"So, you have that re-first date with Eli yet?"

"No," she smiles looking back at me. I feel better just seeing the smile on her lips. "Tomorrow night, since I don't have co-op after school. Plus we both have a later curfew on Friday night. How are things with Bianca?"

"Good, things are good. Katie and I were not right together and she has a lot of problems, I'm a lot happier with Bianca."

"Yeah, I feel the same way about Eli. Jake and I were…well he really was just a rebound, felt good after all the drama with Eli. Of course, becoming stepsiblings complicated matters."

"Yeah, that would really make things awkward," I laugh.

For the rest of the drive we both talk a little about our relationships. When I park we get out and go up to offices together, Clare sits at her desk and I go back to mine. After I clock in Martin has a list of things for me to do. Most of it is work done at my desk, and I spend my first hour at my desk, so busy with work that I don't realize how much time has passed. When I do finally take a short break to get some water and use the washroom I pass by Clare's desk, but she's not there. I glance around and see that she's in Asher's office, talking with him from across the desk. I can't hear what they're saying, but even though they are sitting a couple feet apart I find an excuse to linger and watch them. It's instinct, I just don't trust Asher, something in my gut tells me not to. I can't put my finger on it, I can't explain it to anyone I just don't trust him. Nothing happens while she's in there, and when she exits his office she smiles at me.

I spend the rest of my shift at my desk, though I do use the washroom or get water quite a bit just to keep an eye on Clare and Asher. He leaves the office for an assignment just before the end of our of shifts, as soon as he's out of the office I relax. I drive Clare home when we're off, she thanks me for driving when she gets out of the car. I say I'll see her tomorrow and wait until she's inside before driving home.

"How was work?" Mom asks when I come in.

"It was good," I reply.

Mom is just getting dinner on the table and she asks me to call Dallas and Adam up before washing my hands. Dad comes downstairs and asks me how work was too, I give him the same answer. After dinner I go down to the basement with Adam and Dallas. Adam turns on the TV, he's already finished all his homework, but Dallas and I still have ours to do. I start with my math homework, only I hate math and my mind begins to wander. Soon I find myself thinking about what Clare told me in the car earlier. When Dallas' phone rings and he goes into his room to talk I decide to ask Adam about Clare's sister.

"Did you know Clare has a sister?" I question Adam.

"Yeah, Darcy. How did you know about Darcy? Clare doesn't like to talk about her."

"I asked her why she wanted to be a journalist, she told me about Darcy's rape. Clare felt powerless when her sister was raped, so she tried to research all she could about rape and how to help her sister. She found one really great article that made her feel empowered and that's when she decided she wanted to be an investigative journalist."

"I didn't know Darcy was raped, but Clare barely talks about her. She's only spoken about her a couple of times. Darcy's not in touch very much, when Clare did talk about her I got the impression she felt abandoned by her sister, I never wanted to probe."

"Yeah, I kind of got that impression too. She seemed pretty upset when she was talking about Darcy and what happened. She got happy when I changed the subject to her and Eli though."

"I hope the happy lasts this time, I think they're good together, but I don't want any drama like the last time."

"Pretty sure no one does, but Eli's on meds and stuff now right? So, no more car crashes or burning scripts on stage."

"I really hope so, he seems better now. With Eli it's sometimes hard to tell, but he's happy and he is doing a lot better."

"Good, then I don't think it's Eli we have to be worried about," I comment without thinking.

Adam looks over at me with his eyebrows furrowed, "Is there someone you think we should be worried about?"

"No, I just mean we don't have to worry about Eli now, and their relationship should be good this time. Great even, DeGrassi's epic romance," I comment quickly hoping this covers my slip.

"Epic because of his drastic measures, hopefully that is no longer an issue. Instead of epic I'd be happy if they were just happy with no drama. Or at least just the normal teen kind of drama; arguments and small bouts of jealousy that don't end up with people being poisoned or car crashes."

"Yeah, arguments I can take, but I don't get jealous."

"Sure you don't," Adam shoots back with a sarcastic tone and a laugh.

I scowl at him and look back at my book, Dallas comes out of his room with a grin on his face. He tells us he has a date with Adrianne, she's a cheerleader and a puck bunny. It takes me a couple hours to get my homework done, Adam helps me with some of it. We play video games until it's time to go to bed. I let Adam have the washroom first because I take a shower before going to bed.

Friday Clare doesn't have work, so I don't see her and don't need to keep an eye on her and Asher. I hear later from Adam that both Clare and Eli said the re-first date went great. Saturday night I take Bianca out, even on the weekends her curfew is pretty early, but we have a good time. Sunday is family day, and chores, at least with Dallas living here we get our chores done faster.

Nothing exciting happens at school this week, I spend most of my time with Bianca outside of class. Clare does work at co-op after school Tuesday and Wednesday, I kept an eye on her and Asher both days. Thankfully, Asher was out on assignment most of the afternoon both days. I also took her to work with me afterschool and dropped her at home at the end of our shifts both days. Friday afternoon Clare's working again and rides with me after school of course.

Asher isn't here when we get in, which is a relief to me. I leave Clare at her desk and walk back to mine, Martin is out at a client meeting, but as always left a number of tasks for me to do. Anytime I go to use the washroom or get water I check to see if Asher's back. He doesn't return until just before our shifts are over.

"Clare I know you're due to go home pretty soon, but would you mind staying late? I'd like to get this article fact checked and ready for the first edition tomorrow, with a preview on the online edition tonight. I won't be able to do it without your amazing fact checking skills," Asher says very persuasively as he leans over her desk.

"I don't mind staying, but Drew always takes me home and he's off pretty soon," Clare replies.

"I can hang out," I speak up.

"No need for you to wait around Drew, I can take Clare home when we're done," Asher says with a grin. I have a sick sinking feeling in my stomach, I don't like how he's grinning.

"N…" I start, but Clare cuts me off.

"That would be great, thanks Asher."

"Are you sure Clare?" I question. I'm really hoping she changes her mind and lets me take her home.

"Yeah, I'm sure. No reason for you to wait around, not sure how long I'll be," Clare insists.

"Okay," I say reluctantly, "I have some work to finish still." I go back to my desk and take as long as I can to finish, I even clock out and hang around a little longer, talking to Martin, reading some of the articles on the walls. When I'm finally out of reasons to stick around I grab my stuff and walk out to Clare's desk.

"Have a goodnight Drew," Clare smiles at me.

"Yeah, you too."

I have a date with Bianca tonight, and I should be looking forward to that. Right now I'm only worried about Clare and Asher. I'm not late for my date because I only told Bianca that I'd meet her when I was done with work, since I wasn't sure when I'd get off. When I get to my car I call Bianca as I begin driving.

"Hey, I just got off. It was a little later than expected. You still up for going out?"

"Yeah, curfew isn't for four hours yet and I haven't eaten."

"Cool, you at home?"

"No, Eli's we have a project for TV, video and movie production class. His address is…"

"I know where Eli lives, I drop Adam off all the time."

"Right, shoulda guessed."

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

I hang up and take surface streets to Eli's house. Bianca comes out and Eli comes with her. I doubt he wants to see me, he may have thought Clare was with me though.

"Hey Drew, Clare still at co-op?" Eli asks as Bianca gets in the car.

"Yeah, Asher asked her to stay late. I offered to stay and give her a ride, but she wasn't sure how long she'd be. She might still need a ride later though," I reply. I'm not telling Eli that Asher offered to bring Clare home because I'm not sure what he'd do. I'm still not sure that Eli is exactly stable. Still, I'm hoping if he calls her and offers to pick her up that she'll let him do it instead of letting Asher bring her home.

"Cool, I can pick her up. Have fun on your date, see you Monday Bianca."

"Bye Eli," Bianca grins.

"Later," I wave before driving off.

"I think I finally understand what Clare sees in Eli. He's smart, a great writer and he has all these ideas. I probably got the best partner in the class."

"Yeah probably, he's definitely got lots of ideas. So, where do you want to go to dinner?"

"Anywhere, I'm starving. Eli and I got so caught up in the project I've only had a couple handfuls of chips. Little Miss Steaks is close by."

"That works," I nod. I drive us to Little Miss Steaks, Marisol seats us and after a moment K.C. comes to take our order.

"Hey guys, late date night?" K.C. asks.

"Yeah, I just got off work."

"How's that going? Clare's been raving about her co-op," K.C. remarks.

"She really likes her job, and her boss. I like my job too, it's mostly tedious tasks, but my boss is great and he sometimes lets me in on the more interesting things."

"That's cool. So, Bianca you thought about what Mr. Bettenkamp said?" K.C. questions. I look over at Bianca with an eyebrow raised, I didn't know Mr. Bettenkamp had talked to her about anything.

"Not yet, I told him I'd give him my answer Monday."

"You should do it Bianca. So, what can I get you guys to drink?"

"Lemonade please."

"Coke," I order. K.C. says he'll have our drinks out in a minute and be back for our order. When he leaves I look at Bianca. "So, what do K.C. and Mr. B think you should do?"

"Join Bright Sparks, after class today Mr. Bettenkamp said I should try out. There's still an open spot on the team and Mr. B thinks I should take it. I sat in on a practice today, he says I'm smart enough, I'm not sure though."

"That's the quiz team right?"

"Yeah, they compete with other schools all over Canada. Mr. Bettenkamp says it would be good for me, and it would look great on a college transcript. It was pretty cool to sit in on the practice, the team has some of the smartest kids in the school, K.C. especially."

"Yeah, he was in the gifted program with Clare, I remember Adam telling me," I comment. I'm sure B didn't mean anything by it, yet when she talked about how smart K.C. was it felt like she was pointing out how stupid I am.

K.C. returns with our drinks and takes our order. When he leaves again Bianca starts talking about the project she and Eli are working on, and that he wants to do a play this semester. He's going to talk to Simpson about it Monday. Bianca says she might help on that too, if she has time. Now that she's talking about Eli it's got me thinking of Clare again. I'm worried about her with Asher. I try to enjoy my date with Bianca, we eat and talk, go for a drive. The only time I'm able to stop worrying about Clare is when Bianca and I are making out in my car. As soon as I drop Bianca off I'm worried about Clare again. So, I text her before I start driving.

 **Drew: Did you get home okay?**

 **Clare: Yeah, Asher brought me home about an hour ago. Eli offered to pick me up, but I told him there was no reason to drive all the way down here.**

 **Drew: Glad you got home okay. See you Monday.**

 **Clare: Goodnight Drew.**

I'm glad to know she's home safe, I don't like that Asher took her home still. She probably told Eli that she had a ride, but I seriously doubt that she told Eli her co-op boss was taking her home. I don't care how many meds Eli is on, somehow I just can't picture Eli being okay with that.

I drive home and go in through the basement, greeting Adam and Dallas. They're playing video games and barely nod at me. I leave them to their game and go upstairs, it's pretty dark because our parents have gone to bed. They always leave the kitchen light dimmed and the last one to go to bed turns it off.

I shower and get ready for bed, texting Bianca goodnight. I'm not really tired so, I stay on my phone playing a game until I get tired. Despite Clare telling me she got home okay I still have a bad dream about her and Asher. I wake up early because of it and can't get back to sleep. Used to be I'd go down to the basement and watch TV in these cases, but Dallas is sleeping down there now. So, I get on my laptop and watch on there, falling asleep again a little after seven in the morning. I have another bad dream when I do get to sleep. This time it's about me and Bianca, she breaks up with me for K.C. because I'm dumb. I wake with a terrible feeling in my stomach and a tightness in my chest.

It's after one which means my parents are out. Mom always wakes us up by noon on weekends, thankfully she and Dad are almost always out on Saturdays. Sundays on the other hand are almost always chores and family day, which usually means waking up by ten.

I'm still exhausted, with all the interrupted sleep I feel like I didn't sleep. I drag myself up, pull on some clothes, and use the washroom, I put on some deodorant while I'm in there. Then it's downstairs for some coffee, while I'm making the coffee my cell rings. I see it's Owen and I click accept, but put it on speaker so I can still make my coffee.

"Hey Owen."

"Dude I'm bored, let's go do something."

"What, no Ice Hounds practice or team bonding?"

"Some of the guys met some puck bunnies at the mall, that sounded worse than hanging out at home."

"Yeah, that does sound mind numbingly boring. I haven't eaten yet, can we do that first?"

"Sounds good, I'm hungry too. I'll come pick you up."

I hang up with Owen and go upstairs to get socks and shoes on. I bring my coffee with me, fix my hair and I'm ready when Owen rings the bell. He takes me to The Break Room, we eat and then grab a pool table.

"Hey Lucas," Owen calls just as I'm racking up. I look up to see a guy walking toward us with a smile on his face. He's got dark hair that's spiked up in all directions. A dark haired girl is with him, she's smiling too.

"How's it going Owen? You remember Jane right?"

"Yeah of course, I thought you were in California though?" Owen asks her.

"I was, I'm home for a while," Jane replies.

"Guys this is Drew Torres, he was our QB1 last semester. Drew, Lucas and Jane Valieri, Jane was the only girl ever to make DeGrassi's football team."

"Sweet, I would have loved to have seen that. We we're just about to shoot a game, want to join us?"

"Yeah, play a couple of games with us, give us a chance to catch up," Owen says.

"Cool, Jane grab us a couple of sticks," Lucas orders his sister.

"You grab the sticks," she replies shoving at him. Lucas grins and walks over to the wall to grab them pool cues. "And Owen it's Jane Vaughn, I took my mom's name remember?"

"Sorry, forgot about that," Owen shrugs. "Ladies first," Owen says as Lucas hands Jane a pool cue.

Jane smiles and leans over the table to break. It doesn't escape my attention that Owen watches her ass as she does. We shoot pool with Lucas and Jane for a couple of hours, playing me and Owen against the two of them. We play pretty slowly as we spend a lot of time talking.

We find out Jane came home and put school on hold because their mom has cancer. It's apparently pretty bad and Lucas works most nights, so Jane came home to help take care of their mom and stay with her at night. Jane got a job at a bank while she's here, regular days and hours which she needs right now. I also find out Lucas has a daughter, she's eight and lives in Paris with her mom, but comes out in the summers. Lucas was also a part of Johnny's gang, I heard about Johnny's gang from Alli.

After hearing all about them, and Owen catching them up with his life and Fitz Jane asks about me. I tell them about me and Adam, which brings eventually brings up Eli and Clare. Jane remembers Clare and tells a story about Clare standing up for her when Jane first tried out for the football team. I tell them about Clare and Eli's last breakup, Adam getting shot and Clare being there for him, and Clare and I both working at The Interpreter.

Jane and Lucas have to leave after a couple of hours to get their mom from the hospital. Before they go Owen and Jane exchange numbers. Owen and I shoot a couple more games on our own, he beats me both times, before we decide to go grab some dinner. We could eat here, but they don't offer a lot of food, so we go down the street to the pizza place.

"You go out with Bianca last night?" Owen asks as we begin eating.

"Yeah, picked her up from Eli's after work, they were working on a project together. Did you know she might join Bright Sparks?"

"Yeah?" Owen questions raising an eyebrow. "She's always been smart, just never had a chance to show it. Her aunt never cared, the few guys she ever was in a relationship with never cared, and most of her friends weren't that bright. I think that's why she liked Johnny so much, they were both closeted intelligent people."

"She didn't date lots of guys?"

"Dated, sure. Had relationships with no, just a few. Why?"

"Just curious. Were they all like Anson?"

"No, Anson was something different. You'll have to ask Bianca on that one. Most of them were like Fitz really, guys like Ron-Ron. Guys without a lot of brains that she could easily control."

"Yeah," I remark setting down my pizza.

"Dude, I didn't mean you. Even the other guys she dated for a month or two, which is the most she ever managed, they weren't really relationships. Bianca never let herself get into a real relationship, not until you."

"Sure. It's just when she was talking about Bright Sparks and how smart K.C. was, felt like she was remarking how stupid I was. Like I'm not good enough, which is a big reason why Alli and I didn't work."

"I thought you and Alli didn't work because you let Bianca give you a blow job in the boiler room?"

"Yeah, that was another reason."

"Look, I think you and Bianca are good together, if you're worried about it talk to Bianca. If you don't feel like you're good enough to be with a smart chick then I wouldn't go after Clare."

"What? Where the hell did that come from?"

"You were talking a lot about Clare with Jane and Lucas. A lot about how she is at work, how you take her after school and take her home. How much she's been around for Adam, and what a disaster she was with Eli last time. You talked about Clare more than Bianca, I think more than Adam."

"Because we both work at The Interpreter and I give her rides to and from work after school. We're becoming friends, she's Adam's best friend and that's it. I guess because we work together almost every day she's just been on my mind a lot."

"If you say so," Owen remarks but in a tone that says he doesn't believe me. "Talk to Bianca alright, if you're worried talk to B."

"Yeah, I'll talk to her."

 **(CLARE)**

I'm woken up very early Monday morning by my phone ringing. It's still very dark outside, I grab my phone from my bedside table hoping the call is a mistake, after all who could be calling me so early? I'm very surprised to see that it's Asher calling.

"Hello?" I answer groggily. Honestly, I'm thinking it's a butt call and he didn't mean to call me.

"Hi Clare, I'm sorry for waking you up so early. I was hoping you could come in this morning before school. I can let you're teacher know you came early per my request, so you won't get in trouble for coming in so early and not going to school first."

"Uh, yeah sure. I can do that, I'll get dressed and hopefully my mom can take my stepbrother to school so I can take the truck."

"I'll be leaving in about twenty minutes, if you can be ready in thirty minutes I can pick you up and get you to school by lunch. That way you won't have to take Jake's truck at all."

"I'll be ready in half an hour," I reply and hang up.

I hop out of bed, turn on my bedroom light and pick out something to wear. I get dressed, go to the washroom and get ready in record time. I have my backpack packed and I'm waiting by my door at 5:45, the only other one up this early is Glen.

"You're up early Clare."

"Asher's picking me up, he needed me to come into work early."

"For all the extra work you do there you should be getting extra credit."

"Oh, I don't mind, I'm learning so much," I smile as I hear a car outside. I peek out of the kitchen curtains and see that it's Asher's car. "That's Asher, I'll text my mom from the car. See you tonight Glen." I hear him say goodbye as I go out the door.

"I really appreciate you coming in so early Clare. You have no idea what a tremendous help you've been these last two weeks."

"I'm really glad, I'm learning so much and I don't mind the extra work at all. Honestly, early mornings, late nights, weekends, whatever you need. I'm eager to do it all," I smile enthusiastically.

"I love your exuberant passion Clare," Asher grins back. His compliment swells delighted pride in me, my smile stretches across my lips even further.

Asher starts telling me what he needs me to do on the way to the office. When we get to the office I jump right into work, I'm doing so much and am so busy that time flies by.

"You did great work this morning Newsie, but I'd better get you to school by lunch. You can come back after school to finish up if you want. You did so much this morning though you don't feel that you need to."

"No, I'll be back this afternoon to finish up. I told you, anything you need," I reply grabbing my coat. Asher already has his coat, we go down to his car and he takes me to school. We actually make it a few minutes before the bell. "Thanks for bringing me to school Asher."

"No problem Newsie, see you this afternoon."

I grab my backpack and get out of the car. Since I have a few minutes before the bell I go to check in with Miss Oh. I'm sure Asher called to let her know, but I still want to check in with her. I walk to here classroom and knock on the door jam.

"Hi Clare, you've had an early morning. Asher said you went in with him at six?"

"Yeah, and going back this afternoon to finish up."

"You've been putting in a lot of extra hours Clare."

"It doesn't feel like it, I love this job and Asher is a great mentor, I'm learning so much."

"Glad to hear it Clare, go get yourself some lunch," Miss Oh grins. I smile back and walk to my locker.

"You must have gone straight to co-op this morning," Adam comments walking up as I close my locker.

"I went before school, Asher cleared it with Miss oh," I tell him getting my purse from my backpack. "I worked all morning, but I didn't even notice," I comment setting down my purse and taking off my jacket.

"You must really love this job," Adam laughs.

"I do," I smile stuffing my coat in my locker. Then I bend down to get my purse from the floor, "it's incr…ughmm," I groan as I straighten up and get overwhelmed with dizziness. I stumble back bumping into my locker with my hand to my head.

"Clare?" Adam questions in a worried tone. He catches my arm and supports me.

"I'm okay, just got really dizzy, guess I should have eaten this morning."

"Yeah, eating is generally a good thing. When did you get up?"

"About a quarter after five," I tell him.

"Have you had anything this morning?"

"Some water," I admit sheepishly.

"Okay, let's get you some food now. Can you make it to the caf or should I call Drew to come carry you?"

"I can walk," I laugh. Adam puts his arm around my waist and we start walking to the caf.

"Hey, where we going?" Eli calls from behind us then he runs over and gets in front of us. "You okay Blue Eyes? You look a bit pale," Eli comments with concern.

"Your girlfriend went to co-op before either of us were awake this morning and she hasn't eaten anything yet," Adam explains.

"Not good Clare, you need to eat," Eli says with a slight scolding tone. He slips an arm around my waist as well and we walk to the caf together.

"Stay with her, I'll get her something to eat," Adam instructs.

"You two need to eat lunch too," I remark.

"We've had breakfast, we can wait," Adam says and Eli nods.

Adam returns with some lunch for me and himself, then Eli gets himself lunch. The two of them stay by my side all through lunch, even though once I've eaten I feel much better. Eli tells us he's meeting with Simpson after school about the play he wants to do. Adam has Whisper Hug practice after school, the very first one. Mo finally made final decisions and came up with a name for the band.

Adam and I have both afternoon classes together and he keeps an eye on me. I can see him looking over at me every so often with a worried look. I always smile at him to assure him I'm still okay.

"If you're going back to co-op then Drew is taking you right?" Adam asks as we leave last period.

"Yeah, I texted him at the end of lunch and told him I'd need a ride."

"Good," Adam replies taking my arm.

"What are you doing?"

"Coming with you to my brother," Adam replies.

"Hey bro, you ready Clare?" Drew asks when he sees us.

"Watch her, make sure she eats something while she's there. She went in before school and forgot to eat. Eli and I made sure she ate lunch, but that's all she's had," Adam informs his brother.

"I'll make sure she eats," Drew assures him.

"Good, I got practice. See you at home Drew, I'll call you later Clare."

"Bye Adam," I wave.

"You went in before school?" Drew asks as soon as we're in his car.

"Yeah, Asher called really early this morning asking me to come in. He cleared it with Miss Oh, and he picked me up and dropped me off at school before lunch."

"And why didn't you eat this morning?" Drew asks after a moment. He looks a little stiff for some reason.

"It's not like I didn't eat anything intentionally. I was working hard and didn't realize how much time had passed. Before I knew it Asher was telling me I needed to get to school for lunch. Eli and Adam made sure I ate a good lunch. I promise I'll eat something this afternoon."

"I'll make sure of it, and I'm taking you home when we're both off."

 **The next update will probably jump ahead a couple weeks. With a trip to the hospital, and possibly Clare's birthday. Next story to be updated is** _ **Alone on a School Night.**_


	3. It's A Dream its A Dream Boy

**Make sure to cast your votes in the couplings tournaments on the DeGrassi Saviors site. Winning couples will be featured in an upcoming story!**

 **Ch. 3 It's A Dream its A Dream Boy You're Gonna Wake Up**

 **(ADAM)**

I was taking my time getting dressed on this lazy Saturday morning. Mom was out running errands with friends, Dad was at the office working. Drew and I had no plans today, so far, the plan was to be lazy and play video games. Eli had plans with Clare today since she wasn't working at co-op like last Saturday. Bianca and the rest of the Bright Sparks were at Connor's for an all-day practice. Their first competition was this week. Owen, I heard from both Dallas and Drew, was going out with Jane today. Dallas had a date later, but as far as I knew was still asleep. Drew was currently taking a shower, we'd both had breakfast already. If Dallas was not up by the time we were both dressed, we were going to go downstairs and start playing video games anyway.

Just as I'm securing my compression vest I'm startled by a calamitous sound from the washroom. I run out of my room and try to open the washroom door, but it's locked.

"Drew?" I call knocking on the door. I wait a few seconds, get no response and I just know something is wrong. I turn and run downstairs to the basement door, taking the steps three at a time. "DALLAS GET UP HERE NOW," I yell down and then run back upstairs.

I try running into the door with my shoulder, that only succeeds in hurting my shoulder. There's a key for this door, somewhere, I just don't know where it ended up. Before I came out as Adam I made Dad get a door handle with a stronger lock to keep anyone from getting in. It's not a lock I can just open with a quarter or one of Mom's hair pins.

"Fuck, where's the fire?" Dallas asks as he runs upstairs, in boxers only, so he jumped right out of bed.

"I heard a loud noise from the washroom and Drew's not answering," I tell Dallas.

"Drew, Drew open the door Buddy," Dallas call knocking on the door. We wait a few seconds, when all we hear is silence Dallas gently pushes me out of the way. "Stand back," he says before kicking the door in.

Later I'll tell him how impressive that was, for now I'm horrified to see my brother on the washroom floor! Drew's unconscious, laying half in the shower, the shower curtain partially pulled down. Worst of all, at least to me at this moment, is the very large bump on his forehead half in his hairline.

"Drew!" I rush over to him, checking for a pulse and thank goodness he has one.

"I'm calling 911," Dallas says running downstairs.

I'm afraid to move him, I know he at least hit his head, maybe wrenched his neck. "Drew," I call to him, my voice cracks with worry. I cautiously look him over to assess any other injuries, the only thing visible is the bump on his head.

"Is he breathing?" Dallas questions. He has the phone to his ear and must be on with 911.

I hold my fingers by his nose and feel a shallow breath, still it means he's breathing and that's a relief. "Yes," I nod.

Dallas relays the information, then describes how Drew is lying and how we found him. I look at Drew helplessly, I want to help, to do something, but I'm afraid to touch him and inadvertently make it worse.

"Here, stay on the phone with 911 and keep an eye on Drew. The ambulance is on the way, I'm going to throw on some clothes," Dallas says giving me the phone and running downstairs.

"I'm afraid to move him," I tell the 911 operator.

"Unless he's struggling to breath or his heart stops don't move him. The ambulance will be there any minute," she tells me.

"Why won't he wake up?"

"I'm sure he'll be okay, your friend said he had a bump on the head?"

"Yeah, a big one."

"A bump is actually a good sign. I'm sure he'll wake up once his body is ready, try not to worry. The ambulance should be there now," she says just as I hear the front door open.

"This way, hurry," Dallas insists. I hear him running up the stairs followed by some other people.

"They are, I hear them."

"Okay, I'm going to hang up now, they'll take it from here."

I hang up with the operator just as Dallas appears in the doorway, he then moves out of the way so that the EMTs can get in. I get up and exit the washroom giving them room to get to Drew.

"Get shoes on, I'll grab Drew's keys and we'll follow them to the hospital," Dallas says to me.

I nod and run into my room, throwing on a sweatshirt and shoes, then grab my phone. They're carrying Drew down the stairs on the gurney just as I come out. Dallas and I run out and get in Drew's car, while he starts driving I call Mom.

"Hi Adam."

"Drew's in an ambulance on the way to the hospital, I think he fell getting out of the shower and hit his head," I tell her in the calmest voice I can right now.

"Toronto Western?" Mom asks.

"Yes."

"I'll call Dad and meet you there," Mom replies and hangs up.

The ambulance pulls into the ambulance bay, we have to pull around to the parking lot, but Dallas lets me out at the emergency entrance and says he'll meet me inside. I run in and tell the reception nurse that I'm here with the boy brought in by the ambulance. She tells me to have a seat and someone will be with me shortly. I sit down and shortly decide that the ER needs to look up the definition of shortly. Dallas comes in and sits with me, while we're still waiting for someone to come talk to us both Mom and Dad show up. Mom tries to get an update and the nurse tells her to wait. While we continue to wait Dallas and I tell Mom and Dad everything that happened this morning, from the time I heard the crash in the washroom to me calling Mom on the way to the hospital. Very much not a short time later a doctor comes out and speaks to the reception nurse, and she points to me.

"I'm Dr. Martinez, you're Drew's family?"

"Yes," Mom nods.

"He's awake and doing well except that he doesn't remember the fall or anything just before it. He's got a nasty bump and a grade three concussion, I've sent him to imaging to be sure there's no swelling or other injuries that might be an issue. You can see him as soon as he's back. From what I've been able to piece together, both from what Drew and the EMTs told me, it sounds like he tripped or slipped getting out of the shower. On the way down probably whacked his head on the corner of the vanity. Even if the imaging shows no swelling or anything else I'm going to keep him here overnight for observation. Head injuries can be tricky and sometimes symptoms won't come on for several hours. There's some forms you'll need to fill out, the reception nurse will give you what you need. I'll have someone come get you when Drew is back in his room."

"Thank you Doctor," Dad says.

The doctor leaves, Mom goes to talk to the nurse and I go back to waiting. Mom's done filling out forms by the time an orderly tells us we can see Drew now. He's awake and sitting up in the bed, an ice pack wrapped to his head where the bump was. He's a bit pale, looks tired, but other than that he looks okay. The lights have been dimmed in his room, the bright lights must have been bothering his eyes.

"Don't scare me like that," I scold him while hugging him gently.

"Sorry, I don't actually remember what happened," Drew apologizes. Mom and Dad hug him, Dallas smiles at him and then Dr. Martinez comes in.

"Good news, no swelling at all, just the bump. We're still keeping you until tomorrow Drew, for observation and to make sure you rest. Let's do one more cognitive test before I kick your visitors out so you can rest, can you tell me who all the people in the room are?" Dr. Martinez asks.

"My mom and dad, my brother Adam, and our hockey player Dallas," Drew replies. Mom nods to let the doctor know he's correct.

"Very good, I'll give you a few minutes with your family. We'll keep you here for rest and observation, and as long as everything looks good, and you're feeling pretty good tomorrow, we'll send you home. However, I'm going to recommend that you stay home and rest for at least the next three to four days as well. No school, no TV, no reading, that was quite the knock to the noggin you took, and it will take a few days for it to start to get better. The best thing will be just to rest, sleep when you can get it since you'll be woken up regularly," Dr. Martinez tells all of us.

"Can we bring you anything Drew or do anything for you?" Dad asks.

"Yeah, Adam call B and tell her what happened, but not to come visit. Tell her I'm okay, and there's no reason for her to come down to the hospital. Then call Clare, let her know I won't be going to work for a few days, so she won't be able to ride with me in the afternoons. Oh Mom, I guess you better call Martin and let him know I won't be in for a few days," Drew says. Even that much seems to be taxing on him and I can see he's beginning to fade.

"Alright, Drew needs to rest now, you can come see him tomorrow and we'll be in touch," the doctor says shooing us out of the room.

"We'll take care of it Son, get some rest now," Dad tells him.

"I'll give you a pamphlet and go over some things you need to know about concussions. We also need you to sign the forms to have Drew admitted for the night. I'll have them contact you right away if anything changes with Drew's condition, but with some rest and a few days to heal, and some precautions after that, he should be just fine," the doctor tells my parents after closing the door to Drew's room.

"You boys head on home," Dad says.

Dallas and I leave the hospital and he drives us back home in Drew's car. When we get home Dallas goes to the kitchen and I go up to my room. I don't have Bianca's number, and I don't really want to tell her that Drew is in the hospital, so I call Clare first.

"Hi Adam," she answers cheerily. I hear Eli talking and Dead Handin the background. I think they're at his place.

"Hey, I just called to tell you that you won't be able to ride with Drew to co-op after school. Not for a few days anyway, he's in the hospital with a concussion."

"Oh my gosh, is he okay?"

"Yeah, the doc said he should be fine. He's being kept in the hospital overnight for observation, and he should come home tomorrow. The doc said he had to take it easy for a few days though. No school, he can't even watch TV, just rest."

"No problem, I'm sure Jake will let me take the truck. Tell Drew I hope he feels better."

"I will, I gotta call Bianca, and go find her number in my brother's phone."

"Eli has her number I think," Clare replies.

"Who's number?" I hear Eli ask from the background.

"Bianca's," Clare tells him.

"Oh, yeah I have that, I'll text it to Adam. What's going on?" Eli asks.

"Eli's texting you the number, I'll tell him what happened. Let us know if you need anything," Clare says.

"Thanks Clare, I'll see you guys Monday."

I hang up with Clare just as I get the text from Eli. After a deep breath, and saving Bianca's number to my phone, I call her.

"Hi Adam," she answers just as cheerily as Clare.

"Hi Adam," I hear K.C. and Connor call.

"How'd you know it was me?"

"Drew gave me your number in case I needed it. What's up?"

"Don't freak out, but Drew's in the hospital. He hit his head and they're keeping him overnight for observation. He's awake though, he has a concussion, but the doctor said he'd be okay. They'll release him tomorrow and he'll need to rest for a few days. Drew wanted me to let you know, and to tell you not to go see him, he'll be resting today, and they even kicked us out. You can come by tomorrow when he gets home probably. I doubt Mom will let you stay very long, Doc said he wasn't even supposed to watch TV."

"Thanks for letting me know, will you call me tomorrow when he comes home?" Bianca requests.

"Yeah, sure."

"Thanks Adam, talk to you later," she replies and hangs up.

Since Mom and Dad aren't home yet I look up The Interpreter and find a number to call. After listening to an automated voice for a few minutes, and then talking to a secretary I get transferred to Martin's desk. I leave a message for him about what happened, and that Drew won't be in. Then I go into Dad's home office, he keeps a copy of all his numbers in an address book, it's the backup to his backup, he tells us he can't be too careful, and he can't ever lose a number. I find a cell number for Martin and call it. He picks up, so I pretty much repeat the message I just left for him and tell him I left a message on his work voicemail. He asks a few questions, tells me to tell Drew to take his time coming back and we hang up just as I hear the front door opening.

"I called everyone already, including Martin," I tell my parents as I come down the stairs.

"Thanks Adam," Mom smiles.

"Don't worry your brother will be just fine, some rest in the hospital, a few days of rest at home and he'll be back to his old self," Dad assures me.

"Hey, I have a date soon, but I can cancel if…" Dallas is saying when Mom interrupts him.

"No, you go on your date Dallas, no reason for you to wait around here."

Dallas grins and goes back downstairs to get ready for his date. Mom and Dad go to the kitchen talking about when Drew might be at home alone in the next few days, and things the doctor said. Having nothing to do, and feeling a bit helpless with Drew in the hospital, I keep myself busy by cleaning up the mess in the washroom. I'm nearly done when my phone rings, I look at the display and see that it's Eli.

"Hey Eli."

"Hey, Clare and I are gonna grab something to eat at The Dot, want to come?"

"Sure, being a third wheel sounds better than hanging out here trying not to think about Drew in the hospital."

"Shut up, you know you're not a third wheel. I have Dad's car we'll come get you in twenty minutes," Eli says before hanging up. I slip my phone into my pocket and go downstairs.

"Eli's coming to pick me up, I'm going to The Dot with him and Clare," I tell my parents.

"Good idea, you should get out with your friends," Mom smiles.

"Oh, we need a new washroom door, Dallas kicked that one in to get to Drew and it broke," I inform them.

"I'll go pick one up from the hardware store," Dad says, "I'll have it fixed by the time you get home."

When Eli pulls up a short time later I grab my coat and call goodbye to my parents. I greet my friends as I get into the backseat and Eli starts driving. The Dot's only a couple blocks away and it only takes a couple minutes to get there.

"So, how'd your brother end up in the hospital?" Eli asks as we sit down.

"We're not sure, and he doesn't remember. Based on how I found him, the doctor's assessment and what the EMTs told the doctor, it looks like he tripped getting out of the shower. They think he hit his head on the vanity, he had a terrible bump on his head, grade three concussion. It was really scary, but he'll be okay."

"I'm glad to hear it Adam," Clare smiles.

"Yeah, when I saw him unconscious on the washroom floor my heart stopped for a moment."

"That's probably how he felt seeing you shot last year," Eli comments.

"Let's hope none of us see something like that again, that was terrifying," Clare says hugging me.

"Agreed," Eli and I say together and Clare giggles.

 **(DREW)**

"I'll be back in a couple of hours, three at the most. If you're feeling bad at all and you need me to come home call me right away," Mom says peeking into my room.

"I'll be fine Mom."

"Right away Andrew, don't forget you have a follow up appointment this afternoon."

"I remember, and I promise I'll call you right away if I'm feeling bad."

"I love you, I'll see you in a couple hours," Mom smiles before she closes my door again.

It's Wednesday afternoon, my fourth day of dull dull dull resting. My night in the hospital was miserable, all my time in the hospital was miserable, mostly because every time I tried to sleep I was woken up. They did release me to come home on Sunday, but I had a headache and some vertigo. I haven't been allowed to do anything but lie in bed all week. I can't stand to listen to loud music, so I've been listening to a lot of audiobooks. The only people I've seen or even really talked to all week have been my parents and Adam. Mom didn't want me doing anything, which meant no visitors, including Bianca, not even Dallas has been allowed in for more than a couple minutes. I'd spoke to Bianca on the phone a few times, texted her a few times, but that was it.

My first couple days home it had been enough just to lie in bed with soft music or an audiobook playing. Actually, Adam had thought of the audiobooks, my brain isn't much for company hours on end, mostly I'd think of sports or girls, neither of which is very restful. Still I was starting to go stir crazy and was getting very lonely., I was hoping the doctor would say I could go back to school. Even for a half day, I wasn't allowed to work the rest of the week, but a half day at school sounded great right now. Which shows how desperate I was getting.

I wanted to see my friends, see people besides my parents and Adam. I wanted to talk to Owen and find out how things were going with Jane, see my own girlfriend. I wanted to talk to Clare, ask her how co-op was going, about Asher. She likes to talk about Asher, so it's not usually hard to get information from her. I've been really worried about her at co-op with him and no one watching them. Not that I'm ever there with her in the mornings, but as far as I can tell they're busy in the mornings and she's busy at her desk. It's the afternoons that worry me. When the office is quiet and he's leaning over her desk purely (at least from what I've seen) as an excuse to look down her shirt. And worse when he takes her with him on assignment, when they are totally alone together. She doesn't see it, the way he looks at her, the way he seems to find excuses for them to be alone. I can't decide if she doesn't want to see it or is she just that naïve? I know Clare's smart, but maybe she's too close to the situation to see what's really going on.

I wonder if I should talk to Eli about it? Not everything, not tell him how worried I am because I just can't see Eli reacting well. I don't think I'm smart enough to find a way to talk to Eli and tell him my suspicions without telling him. Besides if Eli gets all possessive and jealous I don't want to be the cause of their relationship breaking up, but there's got to be something I can do.

Now that I'm thinking about Clare at co-op and got myself all worried I feel the need to talk to her. To check in and make sure she's okay. In a way, I feel like I failed her by not being there to keep an eye on her and Asher, by not taking her when she needed to go after school. She'd be at co-op now, I grab my phone and text her.

 **Drew: Hey.**

It takes several minutes for her to get back to me.

 **Clare: Shouldn't you be resting?**

 **Drew: Texting is not a strenuous activity.**

 **Clare: How do you feel?**

 **Drew: Mostly bored. Haven't had a headache or been dizzy for a couple of days. I might be able to return to school tomorrow, at least for half days.**

 **Clare: That's great Drew.**

 **Drew: Yeah, never thought I'd be looking forward to getting back to school. How's co-op? Sorry, I haven't been there to give you a ride in the afternoon.**

 **Clare: That's okay, I only went in Tuesday afternoon and Jake let me take the truck. You just get rest and get better, don't worry about me. Co-op has been great as always, Asher continues to be an amazing mentor. When are you returning to work?**

 **Drew: Hopefully, next week.**

 **Clare: I hope so too. Get better Drew, rest that head so that you can come back to school.**

I set my phone down, I don't exactly feel better having talked to Clare. I do feel tired now though, I close my eyes and fall asleep listening to the music I have playing. A deep enough sleep to dream; I'm at The Interpreter watching Clare with Asher. Only I'm cut off from them, enclosed in a glass office I can't get out of. He's telling her something and she's smiling, her eyes gazing at him with admiration. Then he tells her to take off her top, and she says okay! I start pounding on the glass, screaming at her not to, that he can't do that, but she can't hear me. Then off comes her bra, Asher licks his lips, drooling over her breasts as he takes on characteristics of a wolf, like in the old cartoons. I'm watching Clare topless, watching Asher reach for her breasts, I'm banging on the glass, looking for something to break it. I need to get to her, to save her from him, I won't let him touch her!

I wake suddenly to lips pressed against mine, my eyes shoot open with a gasp. For a brief second, in that haze of coming out of the dream my mind says it's Clare kissing me. She was just in my dream, topless even, my dream brought her here. Or so my brain tells me as I'm adjusting back to reality. It isn't Clare of course, it's my girlfriend, hovering over me, her lips slightly parted, her sweater drooping open to show me her cleavage.

"What are you doing here?" I question, my voice rough as I'm not entirely awake yet.

"Came to see you, it's been days," Bianca replies lying down next to me.

"I know that, I'm not that stupid. I mean shouldn't you be at school? You'll get in trouble for ditching and you've been doing so well."

"It's lunch, and I wanted to see you. And apparently," she says in a tone laced with lust, and a bit devilish as her fingers graze lightly over the bulge in my jeans, "you wanted to see me. Were you dreaming about me?"

"Yes," I crack out as she kisses my neck. I'm not about to tell her that I was dreaming of Clare topless and that got me hot, not going to tell my girlfriend I was dreaming about another girl at all.

Bianca continues kissing along my neck, my collarbone. Her long fingers pull my shirt up and gently graze over my stomach. She kisses my jaw while her fingers begin drawing a line from my bellybutton to my jeans, I can't help but release a moan. I feel Bianca smile when her lips next touch down to kiss my skin, her nails grazing just under the waistband of my jeans. I shiver slightly, the bulge in my jeans feeling horribly constrained now. Right as her fingers grip the button, ready to open them my door opens. Bianca jumps away from me, and my erection goes down real fast at the sight of my angry mother.

"Bianca," Mom snaps sharply and I see Bianca flinch slightly. "Drew needs to rest, what you were doing was not restful. You can see him tomorrow if he's able to return to school, where you should be getting back to."

"Yeah, bye Drew," Bianca says quietly. I can hear the shame in her voice. She exits so fast you'd think Mom was holding a gun to her.

"We leave in twenty minutes Drew," Mom tells me. Her voice is shrill, growling and disappointed. I just nod and close my eyes, trying to respond to her now is pointless. I just hope after twenty minutes of calming down she won't want to kill us anymore.

Mom closes the door loudly and I spend fifteen minutes lying there with my eyes closed. My brain is all confused now, it's starting to hurt thinking about Bianca, and Clare, and Asher, and that despite the bad dream I got turned on by Clare's breasts. Only, I've never seen her breasts, so they really weren't her breasts. To keep from getting a headache I start thinking about sports. It's one of the only things I'm good at. I start replaying the championship football game in my head and the winning touchdown I scored. Five minutes before we're due to leave I get up and get my shoes on, then go to the washroom to check my hair.

The drive to the doctor's office is silent, Mom doesn't say anything about it, but she's still pretty pissed. My follow-up isn't at the hospital, but Dr. Martinez's office. Mom tells the receptionist I'm here and we have to wait a short time before a nurse takes me back to an exam room. She asks a few questions, takes my vitals and then leaves. A few minutes later Dr. Martinez comes in.

"Hi Drew, how have you been feeling these last few days?"

"Bored," I reply.

"Andrew, be serious," Mom scolds.

"Any headaches, dizziness, nausea?" Dr. Martinez inquires.

"A mild headache yesterday, none of the others since Monday."

"Good, that bump is looking better. I'm going to look in your eyes and then have you follow the penlight," he tells me. He does that, feels around my head and asks a few more questions. "You're doing very well Drew, you can return to school tomorrow. Just half days for the rest of the week, if you do okay with that and take it easy this weekend you can return to full days Monday. If you feel up to it you can return to work Monday as well, light duty though, I can write you a note if you need one. And no strenuous activity for at least another week. That means no sports, heavy lifting, exercise or sex," he says. Mom shoots me a look when he says sex.

"I got it Doc, I'll take it easy, but I'm ready to go back to school."

"I know you've been bored, but you still need to be careful and that means taking cues from your body. If you feel dizzy, get vertigo or headaches then you should rest. If they persist or get worse come in and see me or go to the emergency room. With your history of head injuries, it's possible that there will be lasting after effects," the doctor cautions me.

Mom shoots me another look, but at least she doesn't say anything while we're in the doctor's office. "Thank you Doctor, I'll be keeping a close eye on him for the next couple of weeks. What about driving? Will he be okay driving?" Mom questions.

"Driving should be fine as long as you feel up to it. You haven't lost consciousness since hitting your head, so I wouldn't worry about that. If you're even the least bit unsure of your ability to drive safely then don't. Just remember to take the cues from your body, if you're feeling bad, getting dizzy or anything then rest. Don't push yourself too much or too fast it will just lead to more problems. Any other questions?" He asks. Mom and I shake our heads. "Alright, don't take this the wrong way, but I hope this is the last time I see either of you. If you have any other questions don't hesitate to call the office."

We say thanks, the doctor leaves, Mom and I get our coats on and go out to the car. It's silent for about a minute, but it's a tense silence and I'm wondering if I should break the silence.

"What history of head injuries Drew?" She asks through clenched teeth.

I release a heavy sigh as I sink into the seat a little more. I knew this was going to come out at some point. I'd hoped it wouldn't, that it would just be one of those things my parents never found out.

"After getting beat up by Vince's gang, when I was scared all the time and angry, and I wanted to move away, I started MMA fighting. At first, just learning some moves with Owen and Julian, but it wasn't enough after a while. I went to an underground fight, and got in the ring, I was knocked out. Julian and Katie said I was only out for a few seconds and I felt okay afterwards."

Mom is silent, her face like stone and I can't read her emotions. Her hands grip the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles are white. I hear Mom release a breath through her nose, it kind of whistles like a teapot, which is accurate because she's about to blow some steam.

"UNDERGROUND FIGHTS! HAVE YOU ANY IDEA HOW DANGEROUS THAT IS ANDREW! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED! YOU'RE LUCKY ALL YOU GOT WAS KNOCKED OUT AND WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US! WAS IT KATIE'S INFLUENCE? I knew that girl was bad news," Mom growls ceasing from at least yelling again. "Drugs, clubs, pain pill addictions and to think she's actually better than Bianca. Honestly, that girl is worse than bad news. How can you even go out with her after what she did to your brother? Not to mention what she did to you, Vince never would have had a reason to go after you if not for that…"

"Mom," I cut her off sharply before she calls Bianca something that will piss me off, "I need to rest remember. Yell and lecture when I'm back at 100%, please."

"You're right, I'll save it. In bed the rest of the day, especially if you plan on attending school tomorrow. I'll call Principal Simpson when we get home to talk about you coming back. I'll take you and drop you off tomorrow and Friday, you can resume driving on Monday. No visitors afterschool," she says with finality and that's it.

We're silent for the rest of the drive and I lie down again as soon as we're home. I'm not super tired, but I manage to fall asleep again, and dream again.

The dream starts out with me and Katie together, I'm fighting and then Mom appears and tells Katie she's not good enough and Katie disappears. Mom vanishes and suddenly I see Bianca, she's in a tight sexy red dress, beckoning to me and I go to her practically drooling. Just as I get to her, Anson is there, he tries to take her, I hit him with a rock I have in my hands, and he's gone. Now Vince materializes from the shadows, says Bianca and I now belong to him, she cooperates. I refuse, and then his gang comes, we start to fight and while I'm fighting with his gang Vince shoots Adam. While I watch Adam bleed and I'm powerless the scene sort of blows away, Bianca is with me again, holding my arm, kissing my neck, wearing revealing clothing, each of her kisses leaving bright red lipstick prints on my skin. Then Mom is there, looking at Bianca with disapproval and almost hate. Mom is on the other side of me now, Bianca kissing my neck on one side, Mom whispering in my ear on the other. Whispering that Bianca is a bad influence, that she's a whore, that everything with Vince, that my head injuries, it's all her doing. While I feel the two of them pulling me apart I see Clare in the distance, at her desk at The Interpreter. It's just her and her desk, and then Asher steps out of the darkness, looking at her like a predator on the hunt. I watch as he touches her, as his hand on her shoulder slides down her chest and her smile fades. As his hand slips under her dress and he grabs her, pulling her down to the darkness with him she reaches for me. "DREW HELP," she screams. I can't get to her. I can't do anything. I watch her get swallowed by darkness with him as I'm held back by Bianca, with Mom still whispering in my ear.

My eyes shoot open, I'm breathing heavily, sweating a little. I tell myself it was just a dream, but it wasn't just a dream, it was all true in a way. I gotta talk to someone about Clare and Asher, am I seeing things that aren't there or is there really something to worry about?

 **Update soon picking up the following morning with Drew returning to school. Next to be updated is** _ **Alone on a School Night**_ **.**


	4. Troubled Hearts & Minds

**Make sure you visit the DeGrassi Saviors website homepage for a new coupling tournament. This one is Clare Degrassi Crackships vs. Clare x-over crackships. The winners will be featured in a new love triangle story, so get those votes in.**

 **Also, on my page of the DeGrassi Saviors site you can vote on the story that will replace** _ **Swirling Storm Inside.**_ **Four stories to choose from:**

 **1)** _ **We've Got to Learn with these Ghosts ~ a future fic inspired by the television show Cold Case.**_

 _ **2) Undercover as the Lover ~ a Clallas FWB story.**_

 _ **3) I Love You More than the Sins of My Youth ~ A Jay/Clare slow burn.**_

 _ **4) In No Particular City ~ Greatly inspired by the show Dawson's Creek it intertwines many DeGrassi storylines and Dawson's Creek story lines including an Owen/Clare/Drew love triangle.**_ **I'll leave the poll up until I post the last chapter of SSI, so get those votes in now!**

 **Finally, please see my profile page on this site. There have been some changes made to the upcoming stories list. You'll see that One Shots are virtually gone. As I'm no longer posting one shots regularly they were just hanging out there which seemed pointless. Many of my one shots never stayed one shots and many of them were three chapters already or got more chapters.**

 **So, I went through the list and got rid of ones I didn't think I'd ever write for whatever reason. If, based on the plots, I already thought the one shot would be a two or three shot I simply moved it to the short stories list. I extended the plots if necessary and now it will be a short story and I'm going through those at a pretty decent pace. If I really wanted to write the one shot I added more to the plots to make it a short story.**

 **That's all the announcements, please enjoy the chapter!**

 **Ch. 4 Troubled Hearts & Minds**

 **(DREW)**

"If you feel dizzy or your head starts to hurt you call me right away," Mom asserts dropping me at school Thursday morning. The doc gave me permission to come back to school, but only for half days. Of course, Mom arranged it so that I was here for second and third period, math and geography. At least, I get to stay for lunch with my friends.

"I'll be fine Mom," I huff. She's said this at least twenty times since yesterday and she won't let me drive even though the school's only a few blocks away.

"I'm serious Andrew, the first sign of a headache or dizziness and you call me to come home," she says.

"I will Mom," I reply before closing the car door. "Maybe if you hadn't had me come back just for my hardest classes I'd be less likely to get a headache," I grumble to myself as I walk into school.

I have a few minutes before class, so I go to my locker and put in my winter coat. I'm waiting outside my math class when the bell rings. As the first period students begin filtering out I go in.

"Good to see you back Torres, how do you feel?" Armstrong asks as I sit at my desk.

"Feeling good Sir, but I don't think the knock to my head made me any better at math."

"If you're struggling let me know, I can tutor you or find you a tutor to help you grasp the material," Armstrong offers, and I nod.

"Hey Drew, how's the noggin?" Eli smirks walking into class with Jake Eli and Mo.

"Good to see you back, heard you were feeling better," Jake smiles.

"Yeah, thanks. Believe it or not happy to be back to school, can't return to work until Monday though."

"Probably better to rest, Clare said it was a nasty fall. She can take my truck when she needs to," Jake says.

"Or I could drive **my** girlfriend to work," Eli says with clenched teeth. His tone, his emphasis on "my" are to say that Clare belongs to him.

"You have play practice after school," Jake reminds him. "She can take the truck, Katie can drop me at home."

I'm tempted to tell Eli that if he's so insistent on staking out his territory then he should go with her and watch Asher. I'm not trying to move in on his territory, and neither is Jake, they already dated and now they're stepsiblings. Asher on the other hand may be trying to move in on his territory. I don't say this, but it's tempting.

Not that I normally concentrate in math, but today I really don't concentrate. It's not that my head hurts or anything, I just don't like math, and mostly that I'm thinking about Clare. I'll probably have to get a math tutor, maybe get B and Adam to help me. It's lunch now, so I go to my locker to stash my math book.

"Welcome back," Bianca smiles greeting me with a kiss.

"Thanks, never thought I'd want to be back at school."

"Sweet you're back," Owen grins.

"Just for second and third period, but that means I get to be here for lunch."

"I'm sorry about yesterday, I didn't mean for your mom to catch me. I just wanted to see you, I didn't think she'd get so mad, or look at me that way," Bianca comments.

"She hasn't let me do anything but lie down all week. I'm not supposed to have visitors at all. I barely even saw Dallas all week and he lives there," I reply.

"That's it? You're not even going to defend me? Your mom makes me feel like a whore and that's all you say?" Bianca snaps. When I don't respond she storms off.

"What was that about?" Owen questions as I close my locker.

Before I can answer Clare comes over, she's smiling, wearing a red sweater, it's modest but scoops a little to show this lovely peek at her cleavage. Two thoughts come to mind; my dreams about her yesterday and seeing her breasts, then I realize she wore that to co-op and Asher saw her in it, I clench my fists without realizing it.

"It's good to see you back," she says and hugs me, this is not helping the thoughts in my head.

"Uh yeah, just for second and third, how was co-op?" I question pulling out of the hug, but having trouble taking my eyes from her cleavage. In the back of my mind I'm imagining what's under that sweater, wondering if they're anything like I saw in my dream.

"It was good, I'm going back this afternoon," she says. My jaw tightens thinking about Asher watching her in that sweater again.

"I'm returning to work on Monday, you can ride with me again in the afternoons," I tell Clare.

"I'm glad to hear it. I have to go, meeting Eli and Adam for lunch. Good to have you back Drew, bye Owen," Clare waves turning on her heel to go down the hall.

"Okay, explanations now. Why did you look so angry when talking to Clare, why couldn't you take her eyes from her chest, and what's with you and B?" Owen demands as soon as Clare is gone.

"I'll tell you, but somewhere private," I reply.

"Come on," Owen says waving for me to follow him. We both have our lunches and he takes us to the storage room. I hear voices in here, Dallas among them, so I assume the Ice Hounds are in here. In fact, they are sitting in the back on the sofa, drinking beer. "Everyone out," Owen demands, "I need to talk to Drew."

"Why should we leave?" Luke asks.

"I said out Baker, don't make me force you out," Owen responds.

"What's up?" Dallas questions.

"Doesn't involve you, need to talk to my friend in private, now out or I'll throw you all out one at a time," Owen tells them.

"You heard him guys, let's go eat," Dallas orders. I'm sure Dallas will ask me about it later, but at least they all leave now, so I can talk to Owen alone.

"Bianca came over yesterday, surprised me while Mom was out. I had just been dreaming and was hard, kind of from the dream. She was kissing my neck and stuff, she was just about to open my jeans, it was nice, until my mom caught her. She got angry and told Bianca to leave, she didn't say anything rude, she was just angry, but she was looking at Bianca like…well like she didn't think much of her. I guess I could have defended her more, I know Mom doesn't really like Bianca though. I didn't want to get into another fight with my mom. We ended up arguing after the doctor anyway, because Mom found out about my MMA fighting. Bianca shouldn't have come over though, I don't why she got so angry."

"Probably because your mom made her feel like a whore, and by not standing up for her you were silently saying that's how you feel."

"But it's not, I'll talk to Bianca later. She should know that's not how I feel about her at all."

"Okay, what about you and Clare? You looked like you wanted to hit someone when you were talking to her, but I don't think it was Clare."

"You can't tell anyone, because I don't even know that there is anything to tell. I don't like her co-op boss, more precisely I don't like how he looks at her. I don't trust him, I've caught him looking at her breasts more than once. So, when I saw her sweater today I was thinking that he would see her in it. It's not like I've caught him doing something outright inappropriate, it's just a feeling I have. Something about him, the way he is with her, makes me uneasy. Not sure I can really explain it, but I don't like him. I felt this way from the first day we started, he ignored me completely and when he was escorting her back to her desk he put a hand at the small of her back. I didn't think about it at the time, but it did make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Then later I overheard him call her Newsie, it seemed weird to me that he had a nickname for her that first day. Okay, so he wasn't calling her Baby or something, still it didn't sit right with me."

"Have you talked to Clare about it?" Owen questions.

"No, she practically worships the guy, and she doesn't seem to notice."

"What about Adam?"

"No, I don't want to worry him when there may not be anything to worry about."

"Okay, so why were you staring at Clare's chest? And don't tell me you were thinking about Asher seeing her in the sweater because I'm sure that's not it."

"I had a dream about Clare being topless yesterday. Even though it was a dream about Asher controlling her, she was still topless. I've never even seen Clare's breasts, so they couldn't really have been her breasts. When I saw her today I was worried about Asher seeing her in the sweater, I was also imagining her breasts from the dream. Kind of wondering what her breasts really look like. I couldn't help it, I saw them in my dream and her sweater shows just a peek."

"Can't blame you there," Owen says after taking a bite of his sandwich. "So, talk to B and make sure she knows that how your mom feels is not how you feel. Then everything should be set right with the world."

"Yeah," I nod.

We finish our lunches in the storage room, toss our trash in the hallways when we leave, and I go looking for Bianca. I'll have class with her, but I don't want to talk to her in class, and Mom is picking me up right after class. I look all over school, but I can't find her, I do find Clare however, just leaving the girl's washroom near the caf.

"Hey Clare, is Bianca in there?"

"No, I haven't seen her. Everything okay?" She asks.

"Not really, I wanted to talk to her, before class. She's mad at me because…" I stop when another girl comes out of the washroom and looks at us. I put a hand on Clare's shoulder and pull her around the corner, so we can talk. "Because she came over yesterday, woke me up from a dream, we were kissing, and my mom caught us. She got angry at Bianca, she didn't say anything, but Mom looked at Bianca like she was a whore. She said some nasty things about her later too, Bianca wasn't there to hear them. It was after the doctor because Mom found out about the MMA fighting. I hate when Mom talks about her like that, I know she doesn't like Bianca because she still thinks of her as the girl that got Adam thrown into a door. Then today, Bianca got mad at me when she felt I wasn't defending her like I should."

"Maybe you should talk to your mom. Audra can be intense, but she's fiercely protective of you and Adam. Like a mama grizzly bear protecting her cubs. She might still see Bianca as the bad girl from last year, but you know she's not. Tell Audra how you feel about Bianca, and how it makes you feel when your mom talks about her like that. You probably won't change your mom's mind overnight, but she should know how it makes you feel when she puts Bianca down like that. Whether it be a look or a word."

"That's a great idea, thanks Clare," I smile just as the bell rings.

Clare grins and we part ways to get to class. I slip into class just before the late bell and open my book. I wait until the teacher's back is turned and lean over to whisper to Bianca.

"I'm going to talk to my mom as soon as she picks me up, tell her how it makes me feel when she treats you like that."

She doesn't say anything, but she does give me an appreciative smile. After class Bianca walks out with me, when we're away from the doorway she links her arms around my neck and crushes her lips to mine for a passionate kiss.

"Good luck with your mom," she grins.

She leaves me to go to class, I grab what I need from my locker, including my coat before I go out to meet Mom. She's waiting in the van by the steps, I get in and Mom starts driving. I want to talk to her now, but the drive home will only take a few minutes, and I decide it's better to wait until we're home.

"We need to talk," I tell Mom as soon as we've come in the door.

"Alright," Mom nods locking the front door and walking to the sofa in the living room. "What do you want to talk about?" Mom asks after we both sit down.

"Bianca, I know you don't like Bianca and maybe you never will, but I do. This is not just a crush Mom, I really like Bianca, I really care about her, so when you look at her like she's not worth anything it hurts me. Or when you talk about her like she's less than human it hurts me. I know she's made mistakes, but you have to forgive those, she's not the girl she was last year. She's made up for a lot of what happened, she apologized to Adam, they're friends now. You can't keep blaming her for things that were out of her control either. Anson was going to rape her, and Vince intimidated me into doing things, he did the same to Bianca. She handled it wrong, but if I can forgive her then you should be able to as well. You don't have to like her, but you do have to treat her like a person, she's my girlfriend and I care about her."

Mom sighs heavily and looks down for a moment before looking back at me, "You're right Andrew. It's your relationship and my feelings towards Bianca are my own. I'm still judging her by last year. I can't promise to instantly like her, but I'll work on getting to know the person Bianca is now."

"Thanks Mom," I smile. I hug her and go upstairs, Bianca and Clare will both be in class, but I text them anyway. I text Bianca first.

 **Drew: I told my mom how it makes me feel when she treats you that way and she actually admitted she was wrong. She admitted she was judging you by last year and that she'd work on getting to know who you are now.**

After sending the text to Bianca I text Clare.

 **Drew: Thanks for the suggestion. I talked to my mom and told her how I feel when she talks to Bianca that way, treats her that way and she really listened. She's going to get to know who Bianca is now. It never would have been this easy without your suggestion, I don't think my mom really would have listened otherwise.**

I know I won't hear from either of them until they're out of class, so I set my phone down. I feel pretty good, until I remember that Clare is going to Co-op again this afternoon. Then, I start getting a kind of sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. At least I'll be back on Monday and can watch them again.

 **(ADAM)**

"Hi Adam, sorry I didn't get your message last night," Clare says greeting me at my locker Friday morning.

"That's okay, I figured you were busy," I shrug closing my locker. I lean on my locker to wait for Clare.

"I was out with Asher until late and…"

"What do you mean you were out with Asher late?" I inquire before she can continue.

"Helping him with an assignment Adam, anyway I forgot to turn my phone back on. even after he brought me home. He didn't get me home until after 11 and had to do all my homework still. I finished the summary for our physics project though. Asher's taking me to lunch or I'd help you put it all together at lunch," she says closing her locker.

"He's taking you to lunch? Is that normal?"

"He says I have real potential to be a brilliant journalist and he wants to cultivate that. He's such a great mentor. Last night he said he loves to teach when the student is as eager as I am," she tells me with a smile.

Clare doesn't seem to think there's anything wrong with this, but in the back of my mind alarm bells are going off. It just doesn't sound right, yet it's not as though he was being straightforwardly sleazy. In the context of being out with her late and taking her to lunch however, it just seems wrong and creepy.

"Yeah, I'll bet he does," I reply. My voice is dripping with sarcasm, but she doesn't notice or ignores it.

"I'm going to pitch ideas to him, I have so many wonderful ideas for articles. It will be great to know what a real journalist thinks of them. Here's everything for our project, gotta run to co-op, see you after lunch Adam," Clare says handing me a bunch of stuff before running off.

I stand there bewildered for a moment before I put the stuff in my locker and head for class. I see Eli in the hall talking with Imogen and Fiona, about the play I'm sure. He nods to me and I nod back. I'd talk to him about my concerns, but I'm not sure how he'd take it, and I don't really know that there's anything to be concerned about. I walk to math class and sit down, Dave comes in a minute later and smiles at me.

"How's your brother?"

"Huh? Oh fine, he'll be back today for second and third period. He should be back full time Monday."

"Cool, we miss him on the basketball court, but at least he'll be back at school. If Drew's fine, then why do you look so worried?" Dave questions.

"Just something Clare told me," I reply.

"Everything okay?" Dave inquires.

"I'm not really sure," I respond. I don't know what else to tell him. Dave gives me a look, but doesn't say anything, mostly because class is starting.

What Clare said plays over and over in my head all morning. I can't help it, something about it just isn't sitting right with me. By lunch time I can't eat because I'm waiting for Clare's return. I spend the whole time in the media room getting our project together anyway. Clare returns right before classes start, we both have English this period and she slips into class just as the bell rings.

"How'd your lunch go?" I inquire trying to be nonchalant.

"Amazing, I'll tell you about it after class. Sorry, you had to put our whole project together, I'll buy you lunch this weekend to make up for it."

"It's fine, it wasn't that hard to put together."

Miss Dawes has us writing for all of class, so it's quiet for most of the period and just gives me more time to think. I keep glancing over at Clare, though I don't think she notices. When the bell rings Clare and I leave together and start walking to physics.

"Lunch was amazing, Asher is so brilliant. He liked some of my ideas, we're going to talk more about them tonight after my shift. He said I have a real mind for news and I'm his most promising intern in years," she grins delightedly. "He said he was more than happy to take extra time to teach me whenever I wanted it. Isn't that great?"

"Yeah, great," I respond slowly.

"I am so lucky to have such an amazing mentor. Someone who is willing and eager to take so much time with me," she grins as we walk into physics class.

"So, what exactly did you talk about at lunch?" I inquire.

"Oh, all kinds of things; how he got started, what he was like at my age when he was just starting to think about being a journalist. My pitches for articles, my other hobbies, all kinds of things."

I want to ask her more, I want more details on what Asher probed out of her, but the bell rings. Everyone is presenting projects today, Clare and I do ours about halfway through class. Even though we've both been pretty busy this week and had to work separately a lot we just work really well together, and the presentation goes very well. Mr. Bettenkamp is very impressed when we're done.

"I have to run, Asher's picking me up, bye Adam," Clare calls as she runs out of class.

I don't even have time to question the fact that he's picking her up before she's gone. I go to my locker and out to the parking lot, with Drew unable to drive I've been driving his car. I park in the driveway and go in through the front, greeting Mom before going up to my room. I set my backpack down then knock on my brother's door. I want to check on him of course, but I also want to ask him about Asher.

"Yeah?" He calls.

"How do you feel?" I question closing his bedroom door behind me.

"Fine, ready to be back at school full time, and work. The doc said I was ready, Mom is still making me rest for the weekend though."

"Probably best," I comment sitting down on his bed. "Uh, speaking of work, you've seen Clare's co-op boss Asher, right?"

Drew sits up with his mouth twisted and his eyebrows pinched together, "Yeah, why?"

"She was telling me some stuff today that just made me uneasy. For example; she was out with him very late last night. Working with him for co-op, but he brought her home late, she didn't drive herself. She told me he said that he loves to teach when the student is as eager as Clare. She didn't seem to think it was bad, for me though it…"

"Set off alarms in your head?" Drew finishes for me.

"Exactly! He took her to lunch today, she was…"

"Wait, he took her to lunch? Just the two of them?"

"Yeah, she was pitching ideas, I guess technically it was a working lunch. It just seemed odd to me, inappropriate I guess. I don't know, I've never even seen the guy, but the more Clare talks about him the more I feel like something isn't right with this guy. She was glowing when she told me about the lunch today. He told her that she has a mind for news and is his most promising intern in years. He liked some of her ideas and they're going to talk about them more tonight, after her shift. She's back at co-op right now, he even picked her up from school. I know it's not like anything she told me he said was inappropriate, still the guy gives me the creeps. Even worse is that Clare is so enamored with him that I worry if he does do something unequivocally inappropriate she won't even notice. Or by that time he'll have somehow entrapped her because he's got such sway over her now," I confess to my brother.

"I know, I've been feeling it for a while," he sighs.

"Why didn't you tell me her boss was probably a pedophile creep!"

"What did you want me to say Adam? This Asher guy Clare is so excited to work for might be a sleaze ball. Even though he really hasn't done anything I can report him for, and it's really more of a feeling I have. I didn't want to worry you when I didn't know for sure that there was anything to worry about. I didn't want you telling Eli, or Clare for that matter and her getting mad at me."

"Yeah, she probably would have felt like you were butting in and you guys weren't friends. I guess I understand why you didn't, I haven't told Eli any of this, I still wish you'd have said something. I feel like my best friend is at the hands of a pedophile, she doesn't see it, and I can't do anything about it."

"I know Adam, I've been watching them though, since the first day. If he does anything at all that I think I can actually report I will. I'm only there in the afternoons, but I won't let him hurt her."

"I know, I'm glad you're there. What else has he done?"

"The first day I noticed something maybe wasn't right was our first day there. Not at first, not until later when I'd gone to the washroom, I pass Clare's desk to get there. On my way back, Asher was leaning over her to look at her screen I guess. Only from my view it looked like he was looking down her shirt, and he had his hand on her shoulder, which just seemed weird to me. It was just a little too friendly for someone he'd known for an hour. I lingered in the hallway watching him, pretending to look at this wall where they hang awards. I stayed until they left to go cover the protest. It wasn't until I was back at my desk that I thought about when he first greeted her. He escorted her in by putting his hand at the small of her back, I wasn't really paying attention when he first came to get her because Martin came right after. And, he calls her Newsie, he did from that very first day. It's not like he's calling her Baby or Sugar or something, still the fact that he had a pet name for her at all just didn't sit right with me."

"Yeah, none of that sits right with me. It doesn't bother her though, none of it is concerning to her, and that worries me. Has he done anything else?" I question.

"I didn't like when he first offered her a ride a home either. At least, that I know of. I offered to stay late and take her home, he was almost insistent that I leave. I honestly thought he'd try something that night. I did mention to Eli that he should go pick her up though, that's when I got Bianca from his place. That's really all I've been witness to. Nothing I can report, nothing I can even really explain to people, just this gut feeling that Asher is not to be trusted. I'm back at work on Monday, if she goes after school then I'll be watching," Drew assures me.

"Yeah, I'm glad you're there. I just wish some of this was setting off alarms for Clare like it does for us. I'll start talking to her about co-op, checking in with her about it, she'll tell me what you're not there to see. At least, I hope she will," I sigh.

"Hey, we both know Asher's a creep now. Maybe between the two of us we can get Clare to see it," Drew says putting a hand on my shoulder.

"I just hope we get her to see it before Asher does something."

 **Update soon will probably pick up with Drew back at school and work full time. Next story to be updated is** _ **Alone on a School Night.**_


	5. Like She Has a Thousand Times

**Next Sunday the poll for which story should replace** _ **Swirling Storm Inside**_ **will come down, so get those votes in now!**

 **Currently, it's a close race between the Cold Case inspired story and the Dawson's Creek inspired story.**

 **Don't forget that whichever comes in second will end up replacing** _ **Supernatural High.**_

 _ **Guest Reviewers:**_ **If you have left a guest review in the last few weeks please** **please** **check my profile page for a reply. I have a section for it and as of now have no other way of replying to you. I'm considering ideas if you have any for better ways of staying in touch with all my readers.**

 **Ch. 5 Like She Has a Thousand Times**

 **(DREW)**

"Hey Drew," Clare calls. It's Monday at lunch, I'm at my locker with Owen, Bianca and Dallas. We already ate and I'm assuming Clare just returned from co-op.

"Hi Clare, how was co-op?" I question.

"Good thanks, I'm going back this afternoon. Martin actually asked me to come in, after discussing it with Asher. I'm going to be helping you with a project," Clare enlightens us.

"Cool, I'll wait for you after classes then," I smile.

"I'll see you after school, I'm going to go find Eli and Adam, and get something to eat."

"Sounds like Martin is making your first day back as easy as possible," Bianca comments after Clare walks away.

"Yeah, I feel okay, but I'm sure Mom talked to him," I reply. I don't really care about my first day back at work being easy, the work isn't that hard anyway. What I mostly care about is that I'll be able to keep a better eye on Clare if we're working together.

B and I stay with Owen and Dallas until the bell rings. She and I have geography this period and walk together. When we get into class Eli is already at his desk and gives me a look.

"So, Clare's riding to school with you again this afternoon," Eli states.

"Yep."

"And working with you?" He asks.

"Yeah, guess Martin put us together on a project," I shrug. He looks like he has more to say, but he turns around when Mr. Perino comes in.

"Is he actually jealous that you're working with Clare? That she's riding with you?" Bianca whispers to me.

"It's Eli, so probably," I reply.

Bianca shakes her head but doesn't reply as Mr. Perino is now talking. After class I walk B to her last class, which is also Eli's last class. He gives me another look but doesn't say anything. I kiss B before heading to auto shop, Owen is already in here. I get my coveralls on and go to my station.

"Still worried about Clare and her boss?" Owen asks. He does make sure to keep his voice low. I'm also glad he didn't ask at lunch around Bianca and Dallas.

"Yeah, Adam's worried now too."

"Why's Adam worried?"

"He found out some of the things Asher has done, like taking her to lunch just the two of them, bringing her home really late. Some of the things Asher has said, which on their own don't sound bad or unprofessional, but when taken with everything else just seems creepy."

"He took her to lunch?"

"Technically, a working lunch I guess. It still just doesn't sit well with me or Adam. He also picked her up from school Friday, and they talked more after her shift. It just doesn't seem right. I texted Friday to ask about co-op, she said it was good, didn't seem to be bothered by a lunch alone with her boss. She's not worried that he calls her Newsie either, which has both me and Adam worried."

"The guy does seem like a creep. At least she's working with you this afternoon and you can keep her away from him," Owen comments.

"Yeah, and I will. I wish I was there in the mornings with her. I keep feeling like he's going to do something to her, cross that line and she won't see it. She's so thrilled to be working with him I'm not sure he could do anything wrong in her eyes."

Owen doesn't have time to respond as Mr. Ehl begins talking. When class is over I clean up, grab my backpack and go out to the foyer where Clare is waiting. We go out to my car and I drive us to the Interpreter building, we're silent the whole way. I want to ask about Asher, but I don't know how to do it without making her angry.

"Thanks for coming back this afternoon Clare. Welcome back Drew, it's good to have you back. How are you feeling?" Martin asks when Clare and I get up to the office.

"I feel good, ready to be back," I reply.

"Good, well I have a pretty easy, but also a pretty large project for you. It's going to take a lot of research and looking at our archives. Which is why I thought it would be good for you to have Clare with you. The Ontario Journalism Awards are in a few weeks and The Interpreter is being honored for 150 years of journalism. The marketing department is charged with putting together a presentation for this honor. We need pictures and articles both about our founders as well as some of the best stories covered in the last 150 years. Pictures and headlines mostly, they don't necessarily need to be the biggest or most famous ones. You two decide which ones you think show the best of the last 150 years. As I said it's a big project, I think it will take at least all of this week and maybe next week. Clare you already work in the mornings, so if you don't want to return every afternoon I understand."

"I don't mind at all, I love working here and it's easy to get a ride with Drew," Clare smiles. Her response makes me grin.

"Wonderful, let me take you down to the archives," Martin says. To get to the archives we pass Asher's desk and it doesn't escape my attention that he glances over at us. "Well, this is it, it's mostly in chronological order, older stuff at the back. Every copy we ever put out is organized in the file drawers over there. Rejected articles and photos in those cabinets, when you're done down here I'll show you how to get to the archives from the server for the newer stuff, start with this first though. Come get me if you have any questions, otherwise have fun," Martin tells us before leaving the room.

"Well, I guess we should start at the back, find the first issue," Clare comments.

"Sounds good to me, I hardly know where to get started there's so much stuff in here," I reply.

We walk to the back, look in the file cabinets, Clare coughs a little pulling out one of the older papers. We take a stack and sit down at the table in here. It's a small table with two chairs and we're forced to sit very close together or one of us would be on the floor. We spend a long time looking through the papers, it's interesting to see the old articles, very few pictures in these old additions from the 1860s, mostly illustrations. We start a pile of the things we think would be good for the presentation. Clare runs back upstairs to get a notebook and sticky tabs, so she knows which articles we're looking at. After a couple of hours we haven't even been through the first six months of the papers, I don't mind though, the longer this takes the longer Clare works with me in the afternoons.

When I hear the door open I expect it to be Martin checking on us, instead it's Asher. He happens to come in while Clare and I are looking at the same article and talking about it. We're sitting really close, our heads are close together, and Asher I swear looks jealous and angry that we're so close. Just to piss him off a little more I put my arm on the back of Clare's chair. I lean in a little closer, practically breathing on her neck, she doesn't seem to mind, but Asher does.

"How are you two doing down here?" Asher asks.

"Oh hi Asher," Clare smiles. "We're doing great, Drew and I are finding a lot, but it's going to be a big project. As long as you don't need me in the afternoons I'll be down here helping Drew."

"Yes," Asher says slowly with a tone like he doesn't approve, but then he quickly smiles. "Good, this an important task. I'm just leaving for an interview, just wanted to check on you before I left."

"Thanks Asher we're fine, I'll see you tomorrow for co-op," she smiles.

She looks back at the paper, Asher stays for another few seconds watching her, I watch him. He shoots me a look before leaving. I watch him go, I don't like him, and I don't trust him at all. I want to talk to Clare about it, but before I can say anything she speaks up.

"I think this article is good, it shows how even back then they were reporting on the global community, and not just the stories that all the papers were reporting on," Clare comments.

"Yeah, yeah that's a good one," I nod.

She makes a note of the article headline, edition and page number, puts a sticky on the paper and sets it in the pile containing stuff we think should be used. We spend a couple more hours going through papers before my shift is over. I clock out and Martin signs her out then I drive her home.

"It was fun working with you, see you tomorrow," she grins getting out of my car.

I tell her I'll see her tomorrow and drive home. For the rest of the week she rides to work with me after school and we spend the whole time alone in the archive room. We do our jobs of course, but with so much time together we also spend a long time talking. We talk about all kinds of things, by the end of our shift Friday I feel like I know Clare almost as much as Adam does.

As much as I like keeping her away from Asher in the afternoons I was very worried all week about what he might be doing in the mornings. He always came down at least once in the afternoons to check in on us. Always with the excuse of seeing if Clare needed anything, even though the project we were doing was for Martin and the marketing team. Clare didn't seem to notice or think anything of it, I did though. Especially, because Asher would glare at me every time he came down. He seemed to be jealous of the time I was spending with Clare, which only made me more worried about the time I wasn't here. I always asked her about her mornings at co-op as we were driving together in the afternoons. She always said it was fine, that she did fact checking and that was about all she ever told me. It's possible she just didn't have much interaction with Asher in the mornings. I felt like it was more likely that she did, and she just didn't see that he was a sleaze ball. I wondered how much longer she could be blind to it.

 **(CLARE)**

"Walk before you can run Newsie," Asher censures me after I tried pitching an idea for a story at the staff meeting.

It's Monday, February 4th, my 17th birthday is Friday, and I was at co-op very early this morning. Asher had called me yesterday and asked if I could come in early, he had a lot of fact checking he needed me to do. And then he asked me to run for coffee just before their staff meeting started. After I brought the coffee I asked Asher if I could stay for the rest of the meeting, and he let me.

"You have that fact checking for me?" Asher inquires before I can say anything else.

"Yeah, I'll send it over now. Eli's on his way to come get me."

I return to my desk, the fact checking is done and ready it just needs to be e-mailed. I prepare the e-mail for Asher, attach the fact checking and then attach some ideas I've had for articles. I ask Asher to take a look at them, that I think they would make good stories, but I am here to learn and get guidance from a professional. I'm a little nervous when I hit the send button, but I grab my purse and go downstairs. Wrapping up in my coat, scarf and gloves just as I see Eli pull up.

"How was co-op?" Eli asks after I'm in the car and he begins driving us back to school.

"Good, Asher let me stay for the end of the staff meeting, it was exciting to watch. I tried to pitch an idea for a story though and they didn't even listen. I e-mailed some ideas to Asher with the fact checking, I hope he reads them."

"I brought you lunch, I wasn't sure you would eat, and I knew we wouldn't get back to school in time," Eli smiles.

"Thanks Eli," I smile kissing my boyfriend's cheek. I eat on the way to school just finishing as Eli parks in the student lot. "Even to have Asher look at my ideas would be amazing, he knows so much," I grin getting out of the car.

"Asher again?" Alli questions joining us as we walk to the steps. "Oh, Asher I love you," Alli teases.

"Oh, Asher marry me," Eli taunts.

"Okay, okay I know I have Asher mentionitis, but this is kind of a big deal," I defend. Before either of them can say anything my phone rings in my purse and it's Asher's office line. "It's him," I comment taking Eli's hand as I answer. "Hi Asher."

"Hi Clare, I saw your ideas. Let's have lunch tomorrow and discuss these pitches," he says, and I feel my hear flutter.

"Okay, great I'll see you tomorrow," I grin as I hang up.

"Good news?" Eli asks as I put my phone back.

"We're having lunch tomorrow to discuss my ideas," I squeal!

"Lunch? Alone? Is that normal?" Eli questions.

"Oh, sure we've had working lunches before," I shrug.

"Well, hopefully, this is the start to your brilliant journalism career," Alli comments slowly.

We go inside, and I go straight to my locker since I haven't been here all morning. Eli comes with me, but Alli leaves us to get to the washroom before class.

"Hey, how was co-op?" Adam questions.

"Great, I got to sit in on the staff meeting, but that wasn't the best part. When I e-mailed Asher the fact checking I e-mailed him ideas for articles, we're going have lunch tomorrow to discuss them," I enlighten Adam.

"Great, congrats," he replies.

"Between early mornings and returning after school to help Drew, now lunches you seem to be spending all your time at co-op," Eli comments.

"I know, I've been really busy, I'm sorry."

"Just save me some time on the weekends," Eli comments snatching my lips for a tender kiss. Adam waves to Eli before we walk to English class.

"You're still working with Drew in the afternoons this week, right?" Adam inquires as we sit down.

"Yep, probably for the next few weeks, it's a big project."

Adam grins, more kids come into class, and Miss Dawes starts talking. After class Adam and I walk to physics together, Wes and Connor are already here talking about some project with Wesley's uncle. Adam and I sit at our desks and Alli comes in a few minutes later.

"So, what are we doing for your birthday?" Alli inquires.

"I don't know, I've been so busy I hadn't really thought about it," I reply.

"I'm sure Eli will want to take you out that night, unless you have a party," Adam comments.

"Our house is only good for parties when we can utilize the outside, too cold for that."

"I'm sure Mom would let you have a party at our place," Adam offers.

"Thanks Adam, I'll think about it."

Mr. Bettenkamp puts us in groups to work on the days assignment. Alli, Connor, Wes, Adam and I are all in one group, and we finish first. We still have half an hour until the bell, so we go to the memorial garden and get a start on our homework. When the bell rings we pack up our stuff, Alli leaves to meet Jenna, Adam heads to the auditorium for the play and I wait in the foyer for Drew.

"Sorry, were you waiting long?" Drew asks when he does show up. The bell rang almost ten minutes ago, we both get our coats on and start walking to the car.

"A little bit, but we got out of class early too," I reply.

"Sorry, I was talking with Owen," Drew apologizes as he unlocks the car.

"It's okay."

"How was co-op this morning? I heard from Eli that you went in a little early, he made a big point over the fact that he picked you up. I don't think he likes that you ride to and from work with me in the afternoons."

"I hope he's not getting jealous and possessive again, that's what drove us apart last time. Not to mention you're crazy about Bianca," I huff.

"Yeah, it's silly, but it's Eli," Drew responds.

"Co-op was good, I got to sit in on the staff meeting, well at least the end of it. The best thing though is I e-mailed Asher ideas for stories and we're going to have lunch tomorrow to talk about them."

"Another lunch with the boss," Drew comments.

"Yeah, I'm so lucky that Asher is going above and beyond like this," I grin.

"Yeah," Drew says slowly, "above and beyond."

We fall into a silence until we get to the building, Drew parks, we go upstairs and Drew clocks in while Martin signs my sheet. Then Drew and I go downstairs to the archives and get to work. We spend the whole time down here, aside from getting water or using the washroom. We look through articles, photos, unused articles, and we talk a lot while we're doing it. After all last week working with Drew we've become good friends, not that we really spend time together away from work. We don't exactly eat lunch together at school or anything. Although, I suppose nothing's really stopping us from eating lunch together or hanging out outside of work.

When Drew's shift ends we return upstairs, he clocks out and Martin signs my sheet again. Asher left already or is out on assignment because I don't see him in his office. We bundle up in the elevator and go out to Drew's car. It's dark and snowing, he drives home very carefully.

"Thanks Drew, I'll see you tomorrow. Drive safe," I smile as I get out of the car.

"See you tomorrow Clare," he grins.

Mom has dinner for me when I come in, Jake is watching TV and doing homework. I sit down to eat and finish my homework in my room, shower and go to bed. It's hard to sleep though, I'm too excited about tomorrow, anticipating my lunch with Asher and all the potential it could bring. I wake up early and Glen takes me to co-op, I text Miss Oh that I came in early.

"You're here bright and early Newsie," Asher comments when he comes in.

"I couldn't sleep, I was too excited about today," I grin.

"It's refreshing to see your enthusiasm. I hope you haven't been too bored, I'll send some fact checking over to you as soon as I've got my laptop booted up."

He goes into his office and a few minutes later I have fact checking to look over. I'm done early because I got here so early, and we leave for lunch.

"So, what did you think of my ideas? Do they have potential?" I ask as soon as we're sitting down. Before Asher can answer a waiter comes over and asks us what we want to drink. I get iced tea and Asher gets wine.

"You have a head for news, that's obvious, but your ideas for stories anyone could have thought of. What makes you unique? Pitch me a story that no one else could come up with," Asher challenges.

I bite the corner of my lower lip, rolling it between my teeth as I think about this. Just as Asher cocks an eyebrow awaiting my answer, and I'm feeling like I don't have one I get struck with inspiration!

"My school is putting on this play. A well-known play, but with a very modern twist."

I tell him all about the play and how Eli turned it into Romeo and Jules. I tell him why I think it's a good story and why people need to hear about it.

"You've convinced me Clare, we're going to write your article. I'll come to the school for a rehearsal this afternoon. Of course, you won't be able to help Drew this afternoon if we're going to do this," Asher remarks.

"I'm sure Drew will understand, Martin too. I'll talk to Eli when I get back to school!"

"Excellent," Asher smiles picking up his wine glass, "let's celebrate your foray into the world of professional journalism." He pours a little bit of his wine into his empty water glass and hands it to me. "Don't worry, it will be our secret," he says as he takes the glass.

I drink the wine down fast, afraid that someone will see. We finish lunch, Asher pays and then drops me off at school. He says he'll talk to Martin when he gets back to the office, to let him know I won't be helping Drew this afternoon.

"Thank you for everything Asher, I'll see you this afternoon," I grin as I get out of his car.

I go inside so happy I almost feel like I'm floating! Finding my boyfriend at his locker I grip his collar and snatch his lips for a heated kiss. He was talking to Adam and Fiona, but none of them seem to mind.

"Must have been a good lunch," Eli smirks when we break from the kiss.

"Amazing! Asher is coming to the school this afternoon to watch a rehearsal, we're going to write an article about the play. My very first byline and it will be about my boyfriend's play," I tell them excitedly.

"That's incredible," Eli grins kissing me again.

"That's great," Fiona smiles.

"Congratulations Clare, you'll soon be a published journalist," Adam smiles. "Does that mean you won't be helping Drew this afternoon?"

"Yeah, Asher is going to tell Martin when he returns to the office. I'd better go find Drew and tell him," I remark.

"I'll come with you," Adam offers.

I kiss Eli again, wave to Fiona then Adam and I go to find Drew. He's easy to find as he's at his locker with Owen and Dallas.

"How was lunch?" Drew asks.

"Great, I'm going to write an article for Eli's play, but it's happening this afternoon. Asher's coming to the school to watch rehearsal and help me write the article, which means I won't be able to help you today, sorry. Asher is going to talk to Martin when he's back at the office."

For a second Drew doesn't say anything, he seems to be clenching his jaw or something. Owen sort of knocks into him from behind, which seems to snap Drew out of it.

"Uh, great, I mean not great that you won't be helping me, but great that you get this opportunity," Drew says scratching the back of his head. He looks slightly uncomfortable for some reason I can't fathom.

"Yeah, it's incredible to even think that my name would be in a byline this young," I smile just as the bell rings.

"I'll be at practice this afternoon, I'll see you at home," Adam tells his brother before we turn to walk to English.

I feel like my afternoon classes drag on, probably because I'm so excited for this opportunity. As soon as the last bell rings Adam and I leave for the auditorium. I tell Eli to be professional and not my boyfriend, but then of course, Asher walks in while we're kissing. I'm a little stunned and hurt when after introducing Eli to Asher he sends me for coffee. By the time I get back Asher says he has everything he needs, I feel hurt again. Asher said we were going to write this article and he's completely taken it. After talking with Eli though I run after Asher and convince him to let me write it.

If I'd had any indication that the night would end with him kissing me I never would have chased after him.

 **(DREW)**

When my phone rings just after nine on Tuesday night I expect it to be Bianca, so I'm surprised to see it's Clare. As I answer I expect her to ask for Adam, that his phone was off or something.

"Hey," I answer.

"Drew, can you come pick me up?" She asks. I can hear that she's very upset.

"Sure, where are you?"

"At The Interpreter, don't tell Adam please?" She begs desperately and seems to get even more upset at the thought that I'll tell Adam.

"I won't, I'll be there soon," I tell her and I hang up.

"Who was that?" Adam asks.

"Uh…Bianca, her car broke down. I'm going to pick her up and take her home," I reply. Dallas is back in his room on the phone with a girl. "Tell Mom and Dad I'll be back by curfew," I request as I get my jacket on.

He nods and I go out to my car, knowing she's upset I drive as fast as I legally can. Pulling up to the building I see Clare on the steps and she runs down to me. She's not crying anymore she just looks ill and sort of in shock.

"Take me home please," she requests in a soft voice.

"Clare what happened?" I question as I begin driving home.

"Asher came to the school, but he sent me for coffee and when I came back he was done. I knew I should write the article because Asher didn't know about Becky or the struggle Eli went through to put on the play. Asher didn't know about Eli teaching Dave how to act like he was in love with a guy. I ran out and convinced Asher to let me write the article. He gave me his notes and Eli took me home to write the article. I only had three hours, so I wrote quickly, I read through it and sent it to Asher. As Eli was reading through it I noticed a mistake and Eli drove me to The Interpreter, I went into Asher and he'd already found the mistake. I felt kind of stupid, he'd found others too and I was beginning to doubt myself. Asher encouraged me and we sat down to work on the article. By the end I felt great, with Asher's help the article was so much better. He was telling me that I was good at this, giving me encouragement to keep going and he suddenly kissed me!"

"He did what?! I'm taking you home and I'm going back to kill him," I growl. Every fear and instinct I had about this guy was just proven right.

"Drew no," she responds wiping some fresh tears from her eyes.

"No?! What do you mean no? That pedophile ass kissed you!"

"It was a mistake, it had to be a mistake."

"You don't kiss someone, especially someone half your age, by mistake Clare."

"No, no it must have been a mistake. I can't lose my internship over a split second that I'm sure was never meant to happen. I have to talk to him, tomorrow at co-op I'll talk to him," she says with a pleading tone.

I don't like it, I don't want her to talk to him at all, I think we should just go kill him. She's upset though, very upset, kind of shaking and the angrier I'm getting the more upset she's getting, so I force myself to calm down. Kind of giving in, at least for the moment.

"Fine, talk to him in the morning. What if he says it wasn't a mistake? I won't be there in the morning," I remind her.

"I'll go straight to his boss. Please don't tell anyone about tonight Drew, please? Don't tell anyone anything until I've had a chance to talk to Asher," she pleads with me.

"Okay, I promise. You going to be okay tonight?" I question as I pull up to her house.

"I don't know, I kind of just want a very long shower," she replies.

"Call me if you need me okay?"

"I will, thanks for picking me up Drew," she smiles. Her soft smile fills my stomach with butterflies. She's looked at me and smiled at me dozens of times before and never brought butterflies to my stomach.

"No problem, I'll see you tomorrow," I grin back.

She gets out of the car and I watch her go inside. As I start driving home I call Bianca.

"Hey Baby," Bianca answers.

"Hey, I need a favor, if anyone asks your car broke down and I picked you up and brought you home."

"Oookay," Bianca replies slowly. "Are you going to tell me what you were really doing?"

"Picking up Clare from work and taking her home."

"And, you're not telling anyone that's where you were because?"

"Something happened tonight and she needed me to pick her up. I promised I wouldn't tell anyone, yet, which includes you."

"Something happened while Clare was at work?"

"Yeah, and I can't tell anyone at least until Clare talks to her boss tomorrow."

"Is Clare okay?"

"Not really."

"Okay, I'll tell everyone you were with me."

"Thanks, I'll see you tomorrow," I reply and hang up. I park at the house and go in through the basement.

"How's Bianca?" Adam inquires.

"Upset about her car, but otherwise okay. She's getting it towed to Tony's garage."

"That's good," Adam replies.

"I'm surprised you're back so soon, I'd think you'd still be with your girlfriend," Dallas remarks.

"She was tired. I'm going to shower," I tell them going upstairs.

I go into my room taking off my shoes, jacket and everything out of my pockets. I take a long shower and the whole time find myself thinking about Clare. Especially, the moment that she smiled at me in the car and the feeling it gave me. In fact, she stays on my mind all night, I think about her, I think about Asher's lips on her, I think about her grateful and gorgeous smile. I dream about it all night and she's still on my mind when I wake up the next morning. I want to call her and ask if she's spoken to Asher, but she's not at co-op yet it's too early. I get ready for school, drive me, Adam and Dallas to school, still thinking about Clare. We go inside and find most of the Ice Hounds in the foyer, so of course Dallas leaves us. Adam leaves me to go to his locker and I go to mine. Clare is still on my mind, at least until Bianca puts her hand on my shoulder and spins me around crushing her lips to mine. Kissing my girlfriend I convince myself that my feelings for Clare are only a crush and I love Bianca.

 **Update soon will pick up the same morning in Clare's pov. Next story to be updated is** _ **Alone on a School Night.**_


	6. Apologies Mean Nothing When the Damage

**ATTNETION READERS: Supernatural High is on hold indefinitely. I've never done it before and I hate putting stories on hold, but I have been struggling with that one. The chapters were taking a really long time to get up and that was causing delays for all the other stories. So, I opted to put that story on hold and start on** _ **We've Got to Learn to Live with these Ghosts**_ **.**

 **Ch. 6 Apologies Mean Nothing When the Damage is Done**

 **(CLARE)**

I didn't sleep. Not a wink all night. Anytime I closed my eyes all I saw was Asher kissing me. I took a long shower, I watched some TV, I showered again, paced my room. It was like I couldn't keep still. If I was still or silent too long then I'd think about Asher, feel his lips on mine again. When I heard Mom and Glen start moving upstairs I went back to my room, but I couldn't lie down. I just kind of paced around my room until it seemed reasonable that I could be up. I got dressed, and spent a long time in the washroom trying to hide the dark circles under my eyes.

"You're up early Honey," Mom smiles when she sees me.

"Yeah, uh busy day," I reply.

"Me too, I have a meeting first thing this morning. I'll see you tonight," she says hugging me before she grabs her purse and coat.

I start to fix myself some coffee, but as I stir the coffee the kiss comes back. Everything he said, the way he looked at me, the feel of his lips, and how instantly disgusted and dirty I felt. My thoughts are broken when Eli comes in his arms full of papers.

"I got a dozen copies, I can't wait to show everyone," Eli grins putting the papers down on the kitchen island. He opens the paper and starts flipping through it, but the article isn't in there, I knew it wouldn't be. "Where is it? Why isn't the article here? What happened Clare?"

"I…I don't know Eli, we probably worked so late we missed the deadline. I'll talk to Asher at Co-op this morning and find out," I assure my boyfriend.

"Good," he smirks and leans in to kiss me. I sort of flinch away and he catches the corner of my mouth instead. Eli doesn't seem to notice though or he doesn't care. "Come on I'll drive you to school," Eli says.

"Actually, can you take me to The Interpreter? I'll get an early start on co-op and talk to Asher," I comment just as Jake comes downstairs.

"Hey Eli," Jake greets him.

"Hi Jake, I'm taking Clare to co-op," Eli tells him.

"How will you get to school?" Jake inquires.

"I can pick her up at lunch," Eli replies.

We say goodbye to Jake and go out to Eli's car, actually it's his Mom's car, but he's using it. Eli talks a lot about the play as he drives me to The Interpreter, I'm only half hearing him, I can't stop thinking about Asher's kiss last night. I can't help blaming myself for the article not being in today's paper, thinking that Asher destroyed the article after I ran out and away from the kiss.

"Thanks for the ride Eli," I say when he parks out front of The Interpreter building.

"I'll be back to pick you up at lunch," Eli grins. I start to get out of the car and Eli grabs my arm lightly, I stop and look back at him. "What about my kiss?"

I shudder slightly, not because Eli is requesting a kiss, rather because it evokes all the emotions of last night. I force a smile on my lips and briefly brush my lips to Eli's. When I pull my lips away he's smirking, I keep the grin on my lips until I'm out of the car. Walking into the building I start to shake, the thought of seeing Asher again makes my stomach turn. I wish Drew were here with me, walking in with me, at my side when I confront Asher. He's not though and I have to do this alone, I pull in a deep breath to steel my nerves as the elevator doors open. My fists clench as I come around the corner, the breath I've been holding since stepping out of the elevator releases when I see that Asher's office is empty.

I sit at my desk, there's factchecking to do and I get to work. Every time I see someone approaching I look up expecting Asher, but he doesn't come in all morning. When my shift is over Hilary signs my sheet and I email the factchecking to Asher. I see Eli in his Mom's car when I leave the building.

"So, did you find out why the article wasn't in the paper?" Eli asks.

"Asher wasn't there all morning. I'll ask him when I go back this afternoon with Drew, we're still working on that project," I reply.

Eli smirks and starts driving back to the school. We get back only a few minutes before the bell, but I'm not hungry anyway. Eli tries to kiss me before I go to my locker, but I turn my head and he gets my cheek instead. He doesn't seem to notice, just smirks and walks off. I start walking to my locker, but get pulled into an empty classroom instead.

"What did Asher say?" Drew asks.

"Nothing, I didn't see him all morning, he never came in. I'll talk to him when we go in this afternoon."

"At least, I'll be with you this afternoon," Drew comments.

I almost tell him I wish he had been with me this morning, but I bite my lip instead. Drew grins and opens the door, he peeks out before ushering me out of the classroom. He follows me out and we part ways, I go to my locker and then to my third period class.

"Eli said he picked you up, I was sure you hadn't eaten yet," Adam comments setting a smoothie on my desk.

"Thanks Adam," I grin.

English is pretty easy which is good because I keep going over in my head what to say to Asher this afternoon. I'm not entirely paying attention, but I get most of what Miss Dawes says. Fourth period physics is not so easy, and I'm still not paying attention.

"You alright? You seemed kind of spaced out in both classes," Adam remarks as we leave fourth period.

"Yeah just thinking about confronting Asher this afternoon," I tell Adam and he gives me a look, "about why the article wasn't in the paper," I recover quickly.

"Drew will be there with you, Asher gives you any trouble tell Drew," Adam comments.

"I will," I smile, "I'd better go meet Drew."

I wave to Adam and walk to the steps, Drew comes out a few minutes later. He grins at me and we walk to his car. We're silent on the whole drive, every so often he glances at me as though he were going to say something, but he doesn't. He parks in the garage, we get out and walk into the building, we stand very close in the elevator and I am very tempted to take his hand. When we step off the elevator and round the corner I seize a breath in my throat because Asher is in his office.

"You okay?" Drew asks putting a hand at my back.

"Yeah, I have to go talk to him."

"You want me to come with you?" Drew questions.

"No, I should do this alone. You go clock in and I'll meet you in the archives," I assure Drew.

"Okay, but if you're not down there in ten minutes I'm coming back," Drew asserts.

He comes with me to Asher's door and then continues on to clock in. I open the door to Asher's office and close it behind me.

"Asher about the ki…" I begin and he cuts me off.

"Can you ever forgive me? What I did was uncontainable and I immediately felt terrible. I don't even know what happened except that I was lost in the heat of the moment. You're so mature Clare, and brilliant, sharp, an exceptional writer," Asher compliments and I feel myself blush a little. "And, I don't think you realize how beautiful you are."

This last statement makes me feel all at once wonderful and sick. I sort of shake my head and bite my lip, unsure of what to say or even feel at the moment. Asher keeps talking, changing his demeanor to truly remorseful.

"I truly am sorry Clare I would hate to think that one moment where I wasn't thinking could ruin our relationship. I have no excuse really, except to say that I'm going through a terrible divorce," Asher explains.

"My parents got divorced last year, it seemed like the end of my world. I found out my father was having an affair, he walked out, and it was rough. We're all happier now though, my mom re-married to a great man. I'm sorry for running out last night, after I thought about it I knew the kiss had to be a mistake."

"One I am deeply sorry for. At my age I should know better but we were working so close last night and I forgot your age for just a moment. Or maybe hoped there was something in that moment, something we both felt but I overstepped my bounds and I'm truly sorry Clare. You were right to run out, you would have been right to slap me."

"It's totally forgotten about," I reply with a smile and a relieved breath.

"Thank you Clare, you really are mature and wise beyond your years," Asher grins wide. "Uh, you didn't tell anyone about the kiss did you?"

I shake my head, Asher smiles and I smile again, but before I can say anything Hillary comes in.

"Asher there's a press conference at city hall I need you to go cover it."

"On it," he replies standing up and putting on his coat. "Clare I know you're supposed to be helping Drew right now, but I could really use some help on this," Asher tells me.

"Drew will understand, after all my main responsibility is as your intern," I grin excited for the prospect of helping out at a press conference at city hall. "I'll go tell him now, I can meet you at the car in two minutes," I tell Asher.

"Hurry Newsie we gotta get down there," Asher says.

I nod and leave his office with Hillary, walking quickly down to the archives. Drew's at the table looking over things, but looks up when I come in.

"How'd it go?"

"It was all a mistake, he just lost his head for a moment. He apologized repeatedly, he feels terrible. I know I'm supposed to help you, but Asher needs my help covering a press conference at city hall."

"You're going to be alone with him after that?" Drew questions.

"I'm going to do my job Drew. I'll be fine, he didn't mean to kiss me."

"Just be careful, call me if you need a ride home," Drew says in an almost pleading tone.

"I will," I smile and then run to the parking garage and Asher's car. It's easy to find his car as he has his own parking spot. The kiss forgotten I'm excited to assist Asher. My heart beating fast with excitement I smile at Asher as I get in his car.

"Ready Newsie?"

"For anything," I reply with a big grin.

 **(DREW)**

Clare leaves to go with Asher and leaves me with a sinking pit in my stomach. I wait a few minutes as though she were going to return, when she doesn't I get back to work. I try to focus on the job, it doesn't go very well, I do manage to work though. I keep expecting Clare to return, even staying a little after my shift to wait for her. She doesn't return and she doesn't answer when I text, so I return home.

I'm not hungry when I get home, I can't concentrate on homework either, but I watch TV with Dallas and Adam for a while. Not wanting to worry Adam I don't tell him about the kiss or that Clare's with Asher right now. Besides which Dallas knows nothing about any of it. Bianca calls a little after seven, I don't talk to her for very long, my mind is still on Clare, and the fact that I haven't heard from her. After hanging up with Bianca I tell Adam and Dallas that I'm going to shower. I get up to my room and take my shirt off, as I start to undress for the shower, when my phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out and see Clare's picture flashing on it.

"Are you okay?" I answer.

"Not remotely, can you please come pick me up?"

"Of course, where are you?"

"City hall," she tells me on quivering breath. She's crying, I hear her sobbing, and my fists clench instinctively.

"I'm coming, just stay there," I tell her.

I hang up and get my shirt back on, I pull on a hoodie too, but don't bother to get on a coat. I run downstairs and out the front door, it's snowing again, I turn on the car and scrape the windows real quick. I want to speed to city hall, I don't though I drive carefully. I do call Clare back and find out exactly where she is at city hall. She's still in the parking lot, I pull into the spot next to her, she jumps up and straight into my arms. She's trembling, but not from the cold, she's sobbing hard. I wrap her in my arms, holding her tightly as she sobs.

"I'm taking you to my place to talk to my dad," I tell her. I know she wouldn't have been left in the parking lot and she wouldn't be like this if nothing had happened.

She doesn't say anything but she does nod against my chest. Keeping my arms around her I walk her to the passenger side and get her in the car. I go around to the driver's side and start driving home. I want to ask what happened, not sure that she could tell me at the moment however. After a few minutes of driving she begins to talk, she speaks quickly and it's a little hard to understand her between her sobs and labored breaths.

"I can't believe I listened to him. I wanted to believe so bad…" she says and then I can't understand her for a moment as she's crying too hard and her voice is too high pitched. After a couple deep breaths she becomes understandable again. "…I just kept thinking about Darcy, thinking I was going to get raped too."

I definitely heard that, and my jaw clenches tightly, my hands gripping the steering wheel so hard that my knuckles begin to turn white. Clare is crying too hard to talk again, she's shaking too, but I know she's not cold. I'm not sure what to do, I want to go find Asher and beat his face in. I don't know if I should take Clare's hand or if she'd pull away, so I just let her cry. When I park outside of my house I go around helping Clare out of the car, putting my arm around her we start walking down to the basement.

I look her over, really look her over for the first time. Her coat has been ripped open because buttons popped off, her shirt is crooked, slightly twisted. Asher tried to rape her, I hope to hell he didn't succeed. I stop her before we go in and fix her shirt, can't do much about her coat. Putting a hand at her back I open the basement door, surprising my brother and Dallas.

"I thought you went to shower?" Dallas questions in confusion.

"Clare what happened?" Adam asks worried about her and not the fact that I didn't shower. Before she can answer he gets up and hugs her tightly.

"Asher did something," I inform him. Adam looks pissed, then looks at Clare sympathetically as he brings her to the sofa.

"Isn't Asher your co-op boss?" Dallas asks.

Clare nods and then tells them about Asher's kiss last night, at which point my brother's face gets red with rage. She tells them about me picking her up and swearing me to secrecy about the whole thing.

"When I saw him this afternoon he apologized, he seemed so sincere, so remorseful. I believed every word of it, maybe I just wanted to so badly. Even some of what he said made me a little uneasy, still I ignored it. All too eager to go with him, to keep my internship, to keep learning from him," she censures herself.

"What did he do tonight Clare?" I question just as Dallas brings her a glass of water.

"Everything was fine at first," she tells us after taking a few sips of water. She goes on to tell us that she was excited during the press conference, that everything was great, and she had this renewed energy and drive for being a journalist. They got back in his car and she was talking about how excited she was, how she wanted that life. She asked about the article and he showed her the article on his tablet that's going to be in Friday's paper. While she was looking at it thrilled to see her name there he caressed her cheek. She felt disgusted and when she asked what he was doing he told her that no one needed to know. She told him to stop, she tried to get out of the car and he grabbed at her clothes. She was sure she was going to be raped and barely managed to get out of the car. He grabbed her arm and told her if she cared about her career then she'd keep her mouth shut. Then he shoved her out of the car and she called me.

"I'm going to go get Mom and Dad, can you two stay with her?"

"Yeah, of course," Adam nods putting his arm around her.

"Clare do you need to call your mom?"

"I'll text Jake, tell him I'm at Alli's," she replies.

Dallas hand her purse to her as I go upstairs, Mom and Dad are in their room. When I left they were watching TV, they might be getting ready for bed, but they should still be up. I hear the TV going, so I knock on the door.

"Yes?" Mom calls.

"Can you both come down to the basement for a moment?"

"Everything alright Drew?" Mom asks.

"The three of us are fine, it's Clare. Her co-op boss has been sexually harassing her, he tried to attack her in his car tonight. I picked her up and brought her here, she's downstairs and she's very upset."

"Well, of course she is," Mom comments walking past me to go downstairs. Dad and I follow her down, Clare looks up when we all come down. "You poor thing," Mom says sitting on the other side of Clare and hugging her.

"Can you tell us what happened tonight Clare?" Dad asks her. She tells them again what happened, but she hasn't said anything about the kiss or his past behavior.

"He kissed her last night, he apologized today and she believed him. He's done other things too, just not as blatant," I inform my parents.

"I'll call Reggie Turner, arrange for Clare to give her statement to him in the morning. I can act as her council tomorrow and arrange for a lawyer from the office," Dad tells her.

"I'll call Helen an…"

"Please don't," Clare begs but with a sharp tone, "she doesn't know any of this, she doesn't take stuff like this calmly. I don't think I can handle her right now. I know nothing happened, but all I can think about is that it might have happened. That I might have been raped like my sister. I keep picturing what happened in his car tonight turning out so differently and I can't make it stop."

"Something did happen tonight Clare, you were harassed and attacked. You went through something traumatic and it's effecting your thinking," I tell her.

"Drew's right Honey, you went through something awful tonight. You're suffering the aftermath of that and that's why you can't stop thinking about the "what ifs". It will stop eventually," Mom assures her.

"I don't know if I'm even going to sleep tonight. Can I stay here tonight please? I already told Jake I was at Alli's, he'll tell my mom."

"You can sleep here tonight Honey, Omar will take you to meet Officer Turner in the morning," Mom says.

"You can take my bed, I'll sleep on the sofa down here," I offer.

"Change the sheets on your bed Drew," Mom orders.

"I'll help you change the sheets," Dallas says.

"I'm going to go call Reggie, make arrangements for the morning," Dad remarks.

"I'll find something for you to sleep in," Adam tells Clare.

Leaving Clare with Mom the rest of us go upstairs. Dad stays in the kitchen to call Dave's dad. Adam, Dallas and I go upstairs to the bedrooms. I get some clean sheets from the closet before going into my room with Dallas. While we strip my bed, get clean sheets on it and re-make the bed I tell Dallas some of the what Asher's done in the past. Not that any of it is as bad as kissing her or attempting to rape her in his car, but Dallas agrees some of the stuff Asher did and said was creepy.

"I can't believe Clare didn't think any of what he said or did was alarming, I thought she was smart," Dallas remarks tossing the last pillow back onto my bed.

"She is smart, she also idolized this guy, she probably didn't want to hear it or see it."

When we come out of my room Clare is just coming out of the washroom up here. She's wearing Adam's shirt and a pair of his cutoff sweats.

"Goodnight Clare," Dallas says smiling at her kind of awkwardly.

"Goodnight Dallas," she replies.

"The bed's all made for you. Adam is right next door and I'll be in the basement if you need anything," I tell Clare.

"Thanks Drew," she smiles. It's soft, barely a smile, kind of sad, but it still brings butterflies to my stomach. "Thanks for coming to get me again tonight, I don't know wh…" her sentence trails off and she starts to tremble slightly. I put my arm around her and bring her into my room setting her on the bed and sitting with her.

"You're safe here, Asher is gone," I assure her.

"I know, I keep replaying his apology in my mind, some of what he said made me uneasy. Nothing that was bad enough to make me run out the door. I should have listened to my instincts, I should have just run, I never should have believed him, I just wanted to keep my internship so badly."

"It's okay Clare, you're safe now. Do you think you can sleep?"

"No."

"Do you want to watch TV for a while?"

She nods and we leave my room, I tell Adam we're going to watch TV downstairs and he comes with us. We watch TV mostly in silence until after midnight, Clare doesn't look tired, but Adam falls asleep on the sofa.

"We should let him sleep, I'll sleep in his bed, I won't even need to change the sheets," I whisper to Clare and she nods. I cover my brother with a blanket then Clare and I walk quietly to the stairs.

"I don't think I can sleep, no matter what I do I can't stop thinking about Asher."

"Get comfy, I'll stay with you until you're asleep," I tell her.

"You will?" She asks as though she doesn't believe me.

"Yeah, come on get in bed," I insist holding up the covers so she can get in. She lies down and I tuck her in sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I shouldn't have listened to him, I shouldn't have taken his apology at his word. I should have just left the room. He complimented me on my writing and intelligence which made me feel good, and in the same breath told me how beautiful I am which made me feel good, but gross and dirty all at once. I still stayed and listened," she scolds herself.

"Don't think about it now, close your eyes and try and get some sleep."

"If I close my eyes I'll see Asher's face again."

"Okay, then I'll bore you to sleep. We'll start with my first football game."

I tell her a few sports stories and she's soon asleep. I leave my room quietly and go into Adam's room. I managed to comfort Clare and get her to sleep, but I'm having trouble sleeping. I think about what could have happened tonight, what could have happened last night when he kissed her. Eventually, I do get to sleep, but it's wrestles and full of bad dreams. I wake up to Adam shaking me and it feels like I just fell asleep.

"Clare's getting ready in the washroom. Dad said Turner is meeting Clare at the school in Suave's office. She wants to go home first and get ready, Mom offered her breakfast, but she's not hungry," Adam informs me.

"I'm not hungry either, I can take her home," I yawn as I sit up.

"I'm coming with you," Adam insists just as I knew he would.

I leave his room and we both get dressed, Dallas comes with us and we all drive to Clare's house. I don't see Glen's truck or her mom's car when we get there, Jake's truck is though. We all follow Clare inside, Jake is in the kitchen probably eating, but he comes over when we come in.

"What's going on? You don't look like you slept very much," Jake remarks looking at Clare.

"I didn't, I need to go change," Clare says before going upstairs. While Clare is upstairs changing we fill Jake in on everything.

"That bastard! Screw school I'm going to go kill him," Jake growls.

"Not before I do," I speak up.

"I think the whole hockey team should go beat this guy," Dallas volunteers for the Ice Hounds.

"I want to hurt this guy too, but if you go beat him up then you'll get arrested. Clare will press charges and right now that's the best way we can hurt him," Adam advises. Leave it to my brother to be the voice of reason.

Clare comes down ready to leave, Jake hugs her and says he'll see her at school. We get back in my car and I drive us to school, we pull in next to Bianca. She gets out of her car and sees Clare getting out of mine.

"You barely talk to me last night and I find you pulling up with Clare," Bianca smiles with a joking tone. "What's going on?" Bianca questions after seeing all of our faces.

"Her co-op boss kissed her and then tried attack her in his car last night," Adam informs Bianca.

"Fuck, that fucking asshole," Bianca snarls.

"There's my dad and Officer Turner, you need to give your statement," I tell Clare.

All of us walk over to Dad and Turner, and we walk in to school together. A lot of kids see us come in with my dad and Turner, they start whispering though currently no one can tell which one of us they're here for.

"What's going on?" Eli asks coming over.

Clare looks at him, looks away and shakes her head.

"I'll fill him in, we'll see you later Clare," Adam says and hugs her before taking Eli's arm pulling him away.

"Do you want us to wait for you?" I ask Clare.

"No, this might take a while and the rest of you need to get to class. I'll be okay," she says.

"I'll take care of her son," Dad assures me.

"Thanks for everything Drew," Clare smiles. It's a beautiful, appreciative, smile and it lights her face, and sends those butterflies right back to my stomach.

I smile back and hug her before she walks off with my Dad and Turner. Dallas, Bianca and I turn to get to our lockers, when Dallas sees some of the other Ice hounds he goes to them.

"So what happened exactly? How long has her boss been harassing her?" Bianca questions now that we're alone.

I take a deep breath and lean against the bank of lockers, "Long enough that I should have done something sooner."

 **Update soon picking up from about here, and possibly including Clare's birthday. Next story to be updated is** _ **Alone on a School Night.**_


	7. Better Things Are All Uphill

**Be sure to check out the new stories** _ **Why Do I Want Him Still**_ **and** _ **We've Got to Learn to Live with these Ghosts**_ **.**

 **Ch. 7 Better Things Are All Uphill**

 **(CLARE)**

"We'll begin an investigation, I'll have to speak with Asher, his boss and past interns. Cases like this usually boil down to he said, she said. There aren't generally witnesses and there may not be enough to get to a trial," Officer Turner explains to me.

I've been in Miss Sauvé's office with her, Officer Turner, Omar and Miss Oh for over two hours. Telling them everything from the moment I began my internship with Asher. Every single detail, and saying it all out loud some things I thought were innocent before now seem to be calculated moves on his part. All the things I wasn't worried about, that I thought were Asher going beyond his duty, now they seem like screaming sirens that something was wrong. I scold myself for not listening to Drew, Eli and my friends when they seemed worried about them. I ignored them, I didn't want to see the signs and I led myself right into Asher's trap.

"Dana Fairchild from my office will be your council. She'll come to the house to meet you tonight," Omar tells me and I nod.

"Miss Oh and I will talk about finding you another placement. You could be on independent study if you prefer?" Miss Sauvé offers.

"I'd like another placement, I think," I reply.

"We'll find you something," Miss Oh tells me.

"I'm recommending a weekly session, maybe twice a week. And, we'll have to inform your mother," Miss Sauvé says.

"My mom will freak; she's not going to take this well. I don't want to be there when she finds out."

"We can ask her to come in this afternoon and speak to her ourselves," Miss Sauvé assures me.

"I'll need to get Drew's statement; do you want to be present for that?" Officer Turner asks Omar.

"Yeah, we'll have to pull him out of class," Omar nods.

"Clare you can study in the library until the lunch bell," Miss Oh tells me.

I nod in response, grabbing my purse from its place at my feet and leave Miss Sauvé's office with Miss Oh. She goes to the office to get Drew's classroom, so she can pull him from class. I go into the girl's washroom to splash some water on my face and clean up a bit, I cried a lot. Rather than go to the library I go to the bench under the front stairs. There's nothing for me to do in the library, I have no homework yet and nothing to do this period. I just sit there looking at sexual harassment laws on my phone. The bell rings for lunch, but I don't move, I'm reading a law when someone sits down next to me and I look up to see Drew.

"Dad said you were meeting the lawyer at our place tonight," Drew comments.

"Yeah, my mom is finding out tonight too, I don't want to be around when she does. Miss Sauvé and Miss Oh said they would tell her. Officer Turner is investigating, I won't be going back to co-op obviously, guess I won't be helping you with the project," I say apologetically.

"I can do the project; I'm sure Martin will assign someone to help me if needed. Are they assigning you a new co-op?"

"Yeah, they're going to see about a new placement. If I don't get one, or don't get one I feel comfortable with I'll probably be on independent study."

"You okay?" Drew asks.

"I honestly don't know," I sigh.

"Come on, the lunch bell is going to ring soon," Drew says taking my arm and pulling me to stand.

"Drew, what if Asher gets away with it? I was the only one around when he kissed me and tried to assault me in his car. What if everyone else believes whatever lies I'm sure Asher will tell? Even I believed them when he apologized to me after the kiss," I lament. I start to sink down again as tears crowd my eyes, but then I put my head on Drew's chest.

"You wanted to believe him to keep your internship. Not everyone will believe Asher, my parents don't, neither does Adam or Officer Turner right?" Drew asks. He pulls me away from him just a bit to tip my chin up so I'll look in his eye. "Whatever happens I won't let Asher get away with this, I promise you Clare," Drew tells me in a kind and yet determined tone. He's smiling at me softly and he wipes the tears from my eyes just as the bell rings.

"Thanks Drew," I grin sniffling in the rest of my tears. "I'm going to go find Adam and Eli to have lunch," I say then put my hand on Drew's shoulder. Standing on my tiptoes I kiss his cheek and walk towards Adam's second period musicclass.

"How'd it go?" Adam asks when he sees me.

"Okay, I guess," I shrug. Adam doesn't respond, but he does hug me tightly. "How'd Eli take it?" I question.

"I'm not sure, he didn't really say anything. He was pretty stoic actually, but his fists were clenched," Adam responds. I sigh and lean against Adam, after an emotionally draining morning and what I was able to look up on sexual harassment laws I'm feeling pretty deflated. "Are you hungry?"

"No," I shake my head.

"You need to eat Clare; you didn't eat breakfast either. Come on, I'll buy you a smoothie from The Dot, a cookie even, but you need to eat."

I nod and we walk slowly to The Dot, Adam buys me a smoothie and a cookie, gets lunch for himself and we sit down. Just as we sit down and I take a sip of my smoothie Eli comes in.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Eli asks.

"I didn't tell anyone Eli, not at first. I didn't even think anything was wrong until he kissed me," I respond barely above a whisper and without looking at Eli.

"You told Drew, called him to pick you up," Eli says. I glower at him and then look away.

"Eli," Adam admonishes.

"I'm not jealous," Eli defends, "I'm just wondering why Drew found out before either of us."

"Because I called him to pick me up both times," I shrug.

"Yeah, but why him and not me?" Eli inquires. His tone manages to somehow be wounded and jealous all at once.

"Because I was worried how you'd react," I confess.

"You thought I'd lose it?" Eli questions and I nod.

"You've been doing so well, and I didn't want to be the reason you slipped. After Asher kissed me I convinced myself it was a mistake. That no one ever needed to know because it was some horrible mistake. I told Drew because he picked me up and saw how upset I was, but I was never going to tell anyone. I wanted the moment to just have never happened," I tell them.

"But even if you never told anyone Clare the moment would have happened. It would have continued effecting you, and probably been all the worse for you. A secret eating away at you because you had no one to talk to about it. Even if you only ever told Drew, don't you think that me and Eli, and your other friends would start to notice how it was eating you. We'd start wondering what you were keeping from us," Adam tells me.

I bite my lip and nod, all I can think is how Darcy started breaking down and unraveling when trying to keep her secret. The boys are quiet for a moment and Eli takes my hand under the table, I squeeze it back, fighting back the tears that are threatening to break free.

"What about your co-op? You're not going back are you?" Adam inquires.

"Miss Oh and Miss Sauvé are going to see about getting me another placement. They may not be able to though, or I may not like what they find. In that case I'll be on independent study for the rest of the semester. It's too late to transfer into a different class."

"What did my dad and Officer Turner say?" Adam queries.

"I'm going to meet my lawyer at your place tonight. Officer Turner is opening an investigation, but he said it usually boils down to he said/she said without other witnesses. Asher may still get away with this; the paper could protect him. I looked up sexual harassment laws, they are very stringent, nearly anything can be construed as harassment. However, proving the harassment or the harasser getting any kind of real punishment seems to be nearly impossible."

"He won't get away with it Clare, we won't let him," Adam assures me.

"What about your parents? When are you going to tell them?" Eli inquires. I cringe at the thought of either of my parents ever finding out, though I know I can't hide it from them.

"Miss Oh and Miss Sauvé will tell my mom after school. I don't want to; I don't even want to be here when they tell her. I barely talk to my dad or see him, so I have no idea when he'll find out."

"If you're meeting the lawyer at our place anyway why don't you come over after school? You can stay for dinner, your mom can come after she talks to Miss Sauvé and Miss Oh, but you won't have to talk with her alone. Mom would probably let you stay the night again," Adam offers, "I'm sure Eli will let me out of rehearsal this afternoon?"

"Of course," Eli replies.

I smile at my boyfriend and my best friend, we stay at The Dot until we absolutely have to start back to school. I do drink the smoothie and eat all of the cookie, food doesn't make me feel any better though. Eli parts from us when we walk into school, he's going to his locker and we're going to ours.

"We heard something happened with your co-op," Alli comments coming over with Jenna, K.C. and Dave.

"Yeah, her co-op boss was sexually harassing her," Adam informs them.

"What? Clare that's awful," Alli exclaims.

"Is that why my dad was at school this morning?" Dave asks and I nod.

"You know we're here if you need us," Alli tells me.

"I know, thanks guys," I smile at my friends.

I'm really not sure what happened in the rest of my classes that afternoon. I wasn't paying attention, my mind was thinking about last night and all that's happened, all that could still happen. Just before Adam and I leave school Miss Sauvé catches me.

"Clare, Caitlin Ryan has offered you a co-op position on her show. It's still in the journalism field, and…"

"No that's perfect, Caitlin is a great reporter," I grin.

"Wonderful, you can start tomorrow morning," Miss Sauvé says.

"See, things are looking up already," Adam smiles.

I nod and smile at my friend, when we get down the steps Audra is waiting, Adam must have texted her at some point. Audra says I can stay again if I'd like to, and that Mom knows to come to the house after she meets with Miss Oh and Miss Sauvé. I'm dreading her reaction, I'm sure I'm amplifying the possibilities in my head, but I'm dreading my mom finding out and having to face her afterward.

 **(DREW)**

As soon as the elevator door open and I step into the Interpreter offices I can feel everyone watching me. I can almost hear them whispering, I wonder if Officer Turner was in and who he spoke to. I look ahead, ignoring everyone, I'll just go straight to my desk to clock in and go down to the archive room. Asher comes to his doorway and glares at me.

"She's lying you know. This investigation won't go anywhere and her career will be over before it began," Asher whispers to me. I clench my fist, ready to hit him, I've wanted to for weeks and it's so tempting.

"Drew," Martin calls to me. He walks over and puts a hand at my back, "Come on Son we have lots of work to do."

"He assaulted my friend and he's acting like she's the bad person," I growl as I follow Martin back to his office.

"The fact that he's so defensive says something about his guilt. How's Clare doing?"

"I don't know; she's worried he'll get away with it. She's not coming back obviously."

"I know, and the rest of us will help you when we can, but the anniversary projectwill be your main duty until it's finished. And, now you're on it alone, if it gets to be too much let me know and I'll get some more help for you," Martin tells me.

"I should be able to do it, I can put in some over time, come in on weekends."

"That's a good attitude Drew. Go ahead and clock in, I've kept you in here a few minutes, so I'll adjust your time. Tell Clare I said hi when you see her, let her know I am not taking Asher's side, not all of us here believe he's innocent, even if we haven't witnessed him doing anything."

"I will, thanks Martin," I grin.

I clock in and go down to the archive room without looking at Asher or anyone else. For the first few minutes I sit in the archive room angry at Asher, eventually I calm down and concentrate on what needs to be done. Before I know it my shift is over and it's time to go home. When I get home Mom is just getting dinner on the table, Clare is here and so is Helen, she's looking at her daughter like she's a wounded deer.

"Hi Honey, wash up and take a seat, Helen and Clare are joining us for dinner," Mom tells me.

Just as I'm washing up there's a knock at the door, Dad answers the door. A woman comes in I recognize from his work, she must be Clare's lawyer. Dallas isn't here, but considering everyone else around the table right now that might be for the best.

"Dana this is Clare, and her mother Helen," Dad introduces them.

"It's nice to meet you Clare, I'll be your council even if it never goes to trial," Dana says shaking their hands before we all sit down. Clare seems to intentionally seat herself between me and Adam, and far away from her mother.

"Shouldn't we choose our lawyer? No offense, Dana is it?" Helen asks and Dana nods. "We know nothing about you, or your fees," Helen remarks and Clare cringes.

"I'm happy to give you my qualifications, and this will be pro bono. A favor to Omar," Dana informs Helen.

"Oh," Helen says though she doesn't sound apologetic at all, "that's nice of you."

"I specialize in sexual harassment cases," Dana says.

"Clare, how could not tell me your boss was sexually harassing you?" Helen questions. Though she sounds less concerned than accusatory.

"I didn't think he was, I didn't see it until it was too late, and even then I didn't want to believe it," Clare tells her mom. Clare hasn't eaten a bite and she's beginning to tear up. I reach over and take her hand, I didn't even think about doing it I just wanted to comfort her somehow.

"That's very common Clare, no one wants to believe they will be violated that way. Especially by someone they admire, someone with a position of power over them. Unfortunately, even with all the laws in place proving harassment is harder. There's almost never any hard evidence, but don't think it's hopeless. Even without evidence or witnesses we may still be able to prove a behavioral pattern. I'll contact past interns and even family members to interview them," Dana tells her.

"This will go public won't it?" Helen inquires.

"Mother! Is that all you're worried about?"

"Of course not Honey, I just want to know what to be prepared for."

"There's always a possibility of cases such as this going public. Asher is a fairly prominent reporter, other reporters may pick up on the story and expose it. They may want to interview Clare, but I advise you not to speak to any of them it may jeopardize the criminal case. I'll be in touch with you Clare, and though I have your statement from earlier today I will need to interview you myself. We can meet Monday evening if that's alright with you?" Dana asks Clare.

"Alone?" Clare asks after glancing at her mom.

"If that's what you'd prefer," Dana replies, and Clare nods.

"Clare, don't you think I should be in there with you?"

"No, I want to meet with my lawyer alone," she replies.

"As Clare's guardian you'll be apprised of the case, however it is Clare's choice to meet with me on her own," Dana informs Helen.

"Clare we should talk about this more at home," Helen tells her daughter.

Clare seems to be barely holding it together, and all Helen seems to care about is control. Or maybe just wanting to know everything, which I kind of understand but at the same time it's really irritating me. Clare's been through a lot these last couple of days and rather than trying to comfort her daughter Helen seems set on trying to control the situation or just make sure no one else knows about what happened.

"No, I don't want to talk about it any more. I've talked about it enough today, and I'm staying the night here," Clare says firmly. After making the statement Clare looks at my mom to ask if it's okay that she spend the night.

"Yes, you can sleep here tonight Clare," Mom smiles.

"If either of you need to talk or have any questions you can call me," Dana says handing them both her card.

"I'll also be able to answer questions about the legal proceedings and how things will work. These things take a lot of time, it won't be a fast resolution. There's investigation, meetings, depositions and pre trial dates if it even gets that far," Dad informs them.

"Drew I'll need to speak with you as well, we'll set up a time next week for you to come to the office when your dad can be present," Dana says to me and I nod.

Clare hasn't touched her food, though she mostly looks sick and not hungry. Helen is eating though she looks angry, Dad and Dana are now talking about a good time for me to come in and speak with her.

"If you're going to stay the night here then you should come home with me to pack a bag," Helen asserts when she's finished eating. Clare tenses up at the thought of riding home with her mom. I don't really blame her the way Helen has been acting today.

"We'll take her, that way you don't have to drive back to drop her off and then drive home again," I speak up. Clare is still holding my hand under the table and she squeezes my hand grateful that I spoke up.

"Why don't you kids go do that now," Mom says.

"I'll leave too, thank you for dinner Audra, thank you Dana for being Clare's council and Omar for arranging it," Helen comments.

"Let's go," I whisper to Clare finally releasing her hand.

Clare, Adam and I get up from the table, grab our coats and I grab my keys. We go out to my car with Helen following us out. Adam lets Clare have the front seat and I drive us to Clare's house.

"Clare, Honey y…" Helen begins as soon as we're out of the car.

"Mom, I can't talk about it anymore, not today. I'm going to pack a bag and then I'm returning with Adam and Drew to their house," Clare informs her mother before marching into her house to pack a bag.

Adam and I follow her upstairs, Jake comes out of his room just as Clare goes into hers. We all follow Clare into her room and I close the door behind us.

"How'd it go?" Jake asks.

"She didn't explode, but she's driving me nuts," Clare replies.

"My dad arranged for a lawyer and Helen was worried about the cost, then worried about the story getting out, and that Clare didn't tell her. I'm not sure she was worried about Clare at all," Adam says.

"Sounds about right," Jake sighs. "Still planning to have your birthday party tomorrow?" Jake questions.

"Yeah, seven at Adam's," Clare nods.

"I'm sleeping at Adam's again, Mom knows and I don't want to talk to her right now. Does Glen know any of this?" Clare asks Jake.

"I told him what I knew. What did the lawyer say?" Jake inquires.

While Clare packs a bag, Adam and I tell Jake everything Dana or Dad said at dinner. I also tell them what Asher said to me at work this afternoon. When Clare hears this she looks guilty and apologetic.

"I almost hit him, but Martin stopped me. Martin told me to tell you hi for him and that he's not taking Asher's side," I inform her.

"Tell him thanks," Clare smiles as she zips up her bag. She packed enough for two nights, since her party is at our house tomorrow she'll probably stay the night again.

Clare hugs Jake, I grab her bag and we leave her house without Clare having to see her mom again. We drive home in silence, go in through the basement and Dallas is home now. He says hi, but not much else. Adam turns on the TV, I go upstairs and grab my backpack, and let my parents know that we're home. I still have homework, so does Dallas, but Clare and Adam are done.

We stay in the basement for a while, Dallas and I finish our homework and Clare eventually eats something. Since the sheets on my bed have already been changed Clare will sleep there. I get pillows and blankets to sleep on the sofa down here. I'm restless, having trouble getting to sleep and when I hear a noise in the kitchen I go upstairs. I find Clare sitting on the sofa in the dark.

"Clare? What are you doing down here?" I inquire.

"I couldn't sleep. I keep thinking about Darcy, about what she went through. At the time I could never understand why she unraveled the way she did. Now I don't understand how she held it together at all. Asher didn't even rape me, he barely touched me and all I want to do is scream every time I think about him. Thinking about him makes my skin crawl, I don't feel like I'll ever be clean again, no matter how many showers I take."

"Asher may not have raped you, but he still harassed you and up to that point you had admired and respected him. Darcy was raped by someone she didn't know, Asher abused his power and position to take advantage of you. That kind of betrayal cuts deep. He may not have raped you, but the whole thing was still traumatic. You can't compare what you went through with what Darcy went through. It was different circumstances, and both were traumas, you'll be feeling the effects of this for a long time. I would know," I comment fighting back memories of Vince's beating.

"The beating," Clare says and I nod. "I keep thinking about what happened to the family after Darcy's rape. How exhaustively and meticulously Mom tried to keep Darcy's rape and subsequent breakdown a secret. How Dad drifted, and how I was kept in the dark."

"That won't happen this time Clare, you won't be kept in the dark about anything. We'll keep Jake informed too, unless there's something you really don't want us to tell him."

"No, he should know, it's better if he knows. I don't want him to feel pushed aside and left in the dark like I did. I don't want him and Glen to leave, I like Glen and my mom is finally really happy. She's not good in a crisis though, she never has been. She tries in her own way, but she gets so wrapped up in people finding out and what they'll think of us that she doesn't think. She doesn't consider how anyone else feels or how any of it is affecting any of us. You saw her at dinner tonight," Clare says.

"My parents can keep your mom and Glen informed of everything. I'll ask them to meet with your parents tomorrow night during your party. Talk to them about how to handle things. If you're worried about Glen leaving then talk to him, prepare him for how your mom might react. I can be there with you if you want?"

"That's a good idea, thanks Drew. I'd like for you to be there with me, I'll ask Jake to be too. It's also a good idea for your parents to talk to mine. You're coming to my party tomorrow night aren't you?" She asks in a hopeful tone. The hope in her voice at the thought of me being at her party makes me grin. When I grin she smiles back, that soft, gentle, beautiful smile that fills my stomach with butterflies and gets my heart pounding.

"Yeah, I'll be there."

"Good."

"You know, it's after midnight now which means it's officially your birthday. Happy birthday Clare," I smile kissing her cheek.

"Thanks Drew," she says and her smile widens just a bit. I know it's probably because I wished her happy birthday, but I want to believe that it's because I kissed her cheek.

"Come on we should get back to bed," I tell her and we stand up.

"I can't sleep remember?" She remarks.

"I got you to sleep last time, pretty sure I can do it again. I got lots of sports stories I'm sure will put you right to sleep," I comment taking her hand.

We go back to my room, she lies in the bed under the covers. I lie on top of the bed and pull my Raptors throw blanket over me. I start talking about basketball and Clare is soon asleep, guess I fell asleep too because I wake up to the sound of my parents in the hallway. Clare stirs in the bed, but doesn't wake up. I carefully get off the bed and go to the dresser grabbing some clothes. I open my bedroom door just as my brother is about to knock, and he gives me a look for coming out the room in just pajama bottoms.

"Just getting some clothes," I tell him.

He sees the clothes in my arms and lets me pass, though he still doesn't look happy. I go into the washroom to get ready while Adam goes to my bed to wake up Clare. I get ready and go down to the kitchen, my parents are both down here. I grab a bagel from the cupboard and start toasting it, then look at my parents.

"If you guys didn't have any real plans tonight, besides dinner I mean, could you meet with Helen and Glen? Clare's worried about how her mom will handle things, how far she'll go to keep everything a secret. I was hoping you could talk to Helen and Glen, keep them apprised of everything and tell them what to expect, maybe how to be there for Clare?"

"I'll call Helen and ask them to meet us for dinner tonight. We'll stay out for the party, but everyone out by midnight, Clare can sleep here again if she'd like," Mom says.

"I'll make sure everyone's out by midnight," I tell my parents.

Dallas comes up to eat, and a few minutes later my brother comes downstairs to eat. Clare is the last one down and everyone wishes her a happy birthday. Dallas won't be at her party tonight, he's not really friends with Clare and doesn't know her very well. He has a game tonight and he's going out with some guys from the team after, whether they win or lose.

When the four of us are ready I drive us to school. Most of the Ice Hounds are in the foyer so Dallas leaves us to go to them. Adam and Clare leave to go to their lockers and I go to mine, Owen sees me and comes over.

"I heard Clare lost her internship, was it her boss? Was he a creep like you thought?"

"More than I thought, Dallas didn't tell you anything?" I ask and Owen shakes his head. "Asher kissed her, he apologized, she believed him because she wanted to. Instead of working on the project with me she went with him, he tried to rape her in his car," I tell Owen in a low voice.

"Tried? So, she's okay then?"

"He didn't rape her, but she's pretty far from okay and her mom isn't helping."

"Why?"

"Her mom sucks in a crisis. Clare told me how things broke down after Darcy's rape, now she's worried it's going to happen again."

"Wh…" Owen begins but gets interrupted by Bianca.

"Hey Babe," she smiles kissing me before looking at Owen, "Hey Owen."

"Hey," he nods to her.

"Clare's party is at seven right?" Bianca asks me, I nod. "I was thinking we should meet when you're done with work and pick her up a present. We won't have a lot of time, but we'll have some and we can meet downtown."

"Good idea."

 **Update soon will pick up with Clare meeting Caitlin and include her party. It will also likely include her speaking to Glen and Jake. Next to be updated is** _ **Alone on a School Night.**_


	8. Want You More Each Time I See You

**Be sure to check out the new stories;** _ **We've Got to Learn to Live with These Ghosts, Why Do I Want Him Still?**_ **& **_**In No Particular City**_ **.**

 **Ch. 8 Want You More Each Time I See You**

 **(CLARE)**

"Welcome Clare I'm Caitlin Ryan," she smiles kindly extending her hand.

"Yes, I know I've admired your work," I reply smiling back and shaking her hand. Caitlin is not Asher, but after my last experience I am feeling a little nervous being at a new co-op. I feel like everyone is watching me, and maybe they are because I'm a new face. Still, I'm on edge, Asher was a predator and I didn't see it until it was too late. Now I find myself looking away from all the men, yet watching them from the corner of my eye.

"Thank you Clare, from what I've heard you are a lot like I was in high school. Let's go into my office a moment and then I'll show you where you'll be working," Caitlin says. She starts walking and I follow her, when we get to a door with her name on the front she holds it open and waves me in. I sit in one of the chairs opposite her desk, instead of sitting behind her desk she takes the seat next to me. "I spoke with Snake, err Mr. Simpson, we went to high school together you know. He told me all about what happened at The Interpreter. I'm sorry you went through that, and that you mentor abused his power. I want you to feel safe here and know you can come talk to me about anything. If you have any concerns at all, please come straight to me."

"Thanks Caitlin," I smile feeling a little more at ease now.

"Come with me and I'll show you where you'll be working while you're here," she smiles.

Caitlin takes me around to the other places in the office I'll need to know such as the washroom and break room first. Then she shows me where I'll be working and what I'll be doing. This is television and not print, so things are pretty different. I still do fact checking though, at least that's the same. Caitlin stays with me to show me the ropes, and says to come see her if I have any questions. As I only have time for fact checking before I leave I don't have any questions for her today. When it's time for me to leave I go to Caitlin's office.

"Here's the fact checking, I didn't have time to finish everything," I tell her setting the pile on her desk.

"Thanks Clare, you did really well in the time you had. How was your first day?"

"Good, it's different than The Interpreter, but also the same in some ways."

"Great, we'll see you tomorrow morning, and if you need anything let me know."

"Thanks Caitlin," I smile and turn to leave.

"And Clare," Caitlin calls and I turn back, "happy birthday."

I smile and tell her thanks before leaving. I get in the truck and drive back to school, it's lunch now and I go inside to my locker.

"How was your first day?" Drew asks.

"Good, Caitlin is great, I feel comfortable with her."

"That's good," Drew grins.

"Did you know she went to school with Mr. Simpson?" I question and Drew shakes his head. "I did miss working with you though, not that you were at The Interpreter in the mornings. Or that I always there in the afternoons, but after working so closely with you on the anniversary project it didn't feel the same."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Drew nods, "it didn't feel the same doing the project without you."

Knowing that he missed me draws a smile upon my lips, when I smile he smiles back. I want to hug him, to be in his arms, I open my mouth to tell him or to say something, but instead of my voice Eli's is the next one we hear.

"Hey Blue Eyes, how was co-op?" Queries my boyfriend as he walks up with Adam.

"I'll see you guys tonight," Drew waves walking off before I can answer.

Eli and Adam take me to lunch at The Dot and I tell them all about my first day and all about Caitlin. After lunch Eli comes with us to our lockers and walks us to class kissing me at the door. English is pretty easy, which is good and bad as it gives me time to think.

"You okay? You were kind of spacing out in class," Adam remarks as we leave English.

"Yeah, just thinking, lots on my mind," I shrug.

"Yeah, I bet."

"I want to talk to Glen and Jake tomorrow, alone. I just don't think my mom is going to handle this very well, I want them to be prepared. I want them to know what happened after Darcy's rape and that I'm afraid of them leaving. It was Drew's idea actually, and he's coming with me. I was hoping you would come too?" I request of my best friend before adding one last thing, "and not tell Eli."

"Of course, I'll be there," Adam grins, "and I won't tell Eli. Are you worried he won't be helpful or that he'll be jealous that you asked Drew?"

"Both I guess, it was Drew's idea and he offered to come. He's been so helpful and supportive with all the Asher stuff that I thought it would be good to have him there. I know it sounds kind of strange, but he has a calming effect on me, and I feel safe with him. It's just he's been there for me, even when I didn't realize there was something for me to worry about. I just don't see Eli being able to be there for this conversation and not make comments unless I need him to."

"It's okay, I get it. I'm glad you and Drew are friends, and that he's been there for you, even before we knew Asher was bad news," Adam replies and I smile.

Physics is our last class and I don't space out this time. After school I return home with Adam to help set up for my party. Audra already went shopping and there isn't a lot to do. Eli, Alli and Jenna show up early, they all show up just as the Torres parents are leaving. It's not a very big party, but I didn't want anything too big. Somewhat oddly the last two that do show up are Drew and Bianca.

The party is nice, everybody got me something including Drew and Bianca. During the party I manage to get Jake alone for a moment to ask about meeting with him and Glen tomorrow, without my mom. He says he'll talk to his dad and text me in the morning. I am glad Adam talked me into having a party, I have fun and get some nice things from all my friends. It's the first night in a while that I sleep well, I don't have a nightmare and I don't have trouble getting to sleep.

 **(DREW)**

"Thanks for coming," Clare says to Glen and Jake showing them into our kitchen. It's Saturday morning and they came over so Clare could talk to them. Adam and I are here with her, but our parents and Dallas are all out, it just happened to work out that way.

"Of course Clare, but why didn't you want your mom to come?" Glen inquires while Jake rolls his eyes.

"Well, in a way it's about her," Clare says as we all sit down. Adam and I are on either side of Clare, Glen and Jake at the opposite end of the table. "What happened with Asher is similar…sort of…well…" Clare stumbles over what she wants to tell them. She looks at Adam and then me, so I know she wants help.

"For Clare it's bringing up memories of what Darcy went through," I explain.

"What Darcy went through and what it did to our family. That's when Dad started having an affair, when Mom became so worried about public opinion she wouldn't even talk to me. My parents may have already been having issues, and I'm not saying you'll go out and have an affair, but I'm worried. I don't want you to leave Glen, I know my mom isn't great with this kind of thing. I know the arguments my parents had over Darcy's rape and her behavior, how much my dad started leaving the house. I think mostly just in the frustration of not being able to talk to her," Clare says to Glen and then looks at Jake. "I know you're older than me, but when all of this was happening no one was talking to me. I don't know if they thought they were protecting me or just thought I wouldn't understand. I know Darcy probably felt embarrassed and maybe didn't want to talk about it. Whatever the reason I was left in the dark and it made everything worse. Because no one would talk to me, really tell me what was happening what was in my head was probably worse. I can't promise I'm always going to want to talk, but I promise to keep you both updated, and when I can't Adam and Drew will," Clare says before looking at us.

"Of course we will," I smile and Adam nods.

"I'm glad you talked to us Clare, I never would have known your concerns. I don't know how your mom will handle things, she told me very little about "Darcy's hard time", as your mother puts it. I promise you Clare that I will keep communicating with your mom, forcing her to talk, and probably calming her down, and being the level headed one. Audra and Omar are going to have dinner with us once a week, to talk about the legal side and other things, I think that will help to. I promise I won't just leave the house even if I'm frustrated. You just tell us what you need from us, even if you just need some space and time to yourself," Glen tells her and she smiles.

"Yeah, you tell us what you need, if I have questions I'll ask. If you don't want to talk say so, just talk to us when you're ready. We don't want to be kept in the dark, but we also don't want you to feel like you can't talk to us," Jake tells her.

"Thanks, I feel better now that we've talked," Clare smiles with relief.

"Are you coming home with us?" Glen questions.

"Yeah, I'll get my stuff," Clare nods. Glen and Jake wait downstairs while Adam and I follow Clare up to my room. "Thanks for doing this with me, I'm glad you were both here," Clare says when her stuff is packed and then she hugs us both.

"If you need us, if you need anything, just call," Adam tells her.

"I will," Clare smiles.

After Clare leaves with Glen and Jake, Adam and I go downstairs and play video games. It's a pretty quiet Saturday, our parents return in the early afternoon. Just before I leave for a date with Bianca. I take her to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, but as soon as we order my mind wanders to Clare. I'm not even sure why, her smiling face just pops into my head all of a sudden.

"Are you okay?" Bianca asks suddenly snapping me out of my thoughts. Guess I was pretty spaced out I didn't even realize our drinks were here.

"Yeah, why?"

"You've been very quiet," Bianca replies.

"Sorry, just…tired," I lie. I'm sure telling my girlfriend I'm thinking about another girl is not good.

"Too tired for the movie?" Bianca asks.

"No, I'll be fine," I assure her with a grin.

Not wanting to go quiet again I just start talking, mostly about work, but a little about school. Somehow we end up talking about Eli's play, there's a dance for it after school next Friday. The dance is to promote the play, but also Whisper Hug is playing their one and only song. The dance was announced yesterday, so it's pretty short notice. I do take Bianca to the movie after dinner, it's kind of boring though and my mind goes back to Clare a lot.

"I should get you home for curfew," I say after the movie is over.

"It's still a little early, we could do something else," Bianca coos as she fingers my collar.

As great as making out, or more, with my girlfriend sounds, I'm still thinking about Clare. I know that's not good, and I know I'm not giving Bianca my full attention. The longer I'm with her the more likely she is to figure out I'm thinking about Clare.

"We'll get distracted and you'll be late, besides I have a mile-long list of chores in the morning. Let's save the making out, and more, for when we have a place and time to really savor it," I grin brushing my fingers into her hair.

Bianca smiles and gives me a soft kiss before we go back to my car. I drop Bianca at home, she kisses me before getting out of the car. When I get home my parents are in bed, but Adam is playing video games in the basement.

"You're home early," Adam comments looking at the clock on the DVR.

"I wanted to be sure B wouldn't be late for curfew," I shrug sitting down next to my brother.

When he finishes the level he's on he hands me a controller and we play together. We're still doing so when Dallas gets home from his date. We play video games for a while longer and then Adam and I go upstairs to get ready for bed. I brush my teeth and go into my room, I start changing for bed and notice a missed call on my phone. It was Clare and she called just a moment ago, so I call her back.

"Are you okay?"

"I can't sleep," she huffs.

"Miss my boring sports stories?" I chuckle and she giggles.

"Yes actually, they definitely put me to sleep," she retorts in a teasing tone of voice. "I should be able to sleep in my own bed, but when I close my eyes all I see is Asher. I can't stop thinking about all the ways this case could go wrong and ruin my life."

"You're over thinking things Clare."

"I know, it's what I do. I over think and over analyze and stress myself out. Hasn't Adam told you how neurotic I am?"

"I think you're worried, and it's okay to be worried, but I won't let Asher near you again. Now get comfortable, I have lots of boring sports stories to tell you," I tell her.

"You don't have to," Clare says.

"Will it help you get to sleep?"

"Yeah."

"Then get comfortable," I say again. I hear her shifting. I get off my jeans, socks and shoes and get in bed myself. I never did change the sheets again and my bed smells like her now. It makes me smile, inhaling her scent, talking to her, I almost feel her in the bed with me. "In eighth grade I first went out for basketball," I begin.

 **(CLARE)**

"Are you going to miss the dance tonight because you have to work?" I ask Drew.

It's Friday afternoon, school just let out, tonight is the dance for Eli's play, and Adam's band is playing. It's also been a week of me sleeping at home, if you could call it that, I never seemed to sleep very much. The funny thing is the only way I could seem to get myself to sleep was to think about Drew and picture him telling me sports stories. I'd replay in my mind the ones I could remember, and makeup others. As long as I was hearing Drew's voice in my head telling them to me, picturing him there lying with me, I could sleep.

Not that I had told anyone this, as far as everyone else knew I was sleeping okay, and getting to sleep just fine. Not even Jake knew I was up half the night watching things on my laptop or writing, sometimes reading. I couldn't tell Eli that I could only sleep thinking about Drew, he'd be jealous, and in all fairness he probably had a right to be jealous about that. I couldn't tell Adam, he'd be worried that I was developing feelings for Drew, honestly I was a little worried about that myself. Not just that Drew made me feel safe, and was a comfort to me after all the stuff with Asher, but that I was truly developing feelings for him. I certainly couldn't tell Bianca, I didn't think she was jealous of my friendship with Drew, but sometimes she seemed to worry about all the time we spent together. I couldn't tell Jake; I was sure he would tell Eli or possibly tell Drew. Alli and my other friends would surely think I had a crush on Drew.

"No, I'm going in tomorrow instead, couldn't miss Adam playing. Even if it's only one song," Drew says and I smile.

"You two ready for the dance?" Bianca asks approaching with Eli. They have fourth period together, and both have lockers in this hallway.

"Definitely," I smile.

Bianca grabs Drew for a steamy kiss, Eli greets me with a kiss and opens his locker to stow his backpack. The four of us walk to the auditorium together. The auditorium was decorated at lunch, there's lots of posters up for the play, a few streamers and that's really it. The only refreshments are cookies and punch, but it was kind of last minute, this dance was only planned last week. Adam finds the four of us, Whisper Hug only knows one song, so they aren't on just yet.

"You ready to preform?" Eli asks him.

"We've been practicing our one and only song all week," Adam grins.

"Hey guys, the posters look great. I was worried at first, but I like them," Dave remarks walking over with his arm around Alli. The posters show Dave and Tris looking at each other like lovers.

"Or they were nice posters," I comment nodding to Luke and Becky defacing the posters with markers.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing?" Eli snarls running over. We all follow him; I manage to grab his arm just before he shoves Luke.

"Real mature guys," Adam comments. They've written a bunch of hateful and anti-homosexual slogans over the posters. They've even drawn devil horns on Dave and Tristan.

"You stole my play and turned it into an immoral mockery," Becky seethes.

"At least I have an open mind, and I don't hate everything that doesn't fit into my narrow view of the world," Eli replies.

"Being gay is wrong, it says so in the bible," Luke counters.

"That's an incredibly narrow-minded view, the bible says a lot of things," I shoot back.

"We never should have come to this school, it's filled with freaks like her," Luke growls and steps toward Adam. Instantly Drew is between Adam and Luke, and ready to push Luke away.

"Back off Baker, you stay away from my brother," Drew growls.

"Hey, what is going on over here?" Simpson inquires coming over with Mr. Perino.

"They're defacing the posters," I tell them.

Simpson looks at the posters, then back at Luke and Becky, "You two with me now." Simpson is pissed, he and Perino escort Luke and Becky out of the auditorium. We attracted a bit of a crowd, but now that Luke and Becky are gone they begin to disburse.

"I gotta get backstage and get ready to go on, I'll see you guys later," Adam says and then disappears into the crowd.

"Drew, help me get these down?" Eli requests.

"Yeah, sure," Drew nods.

"Come dance with me Clare," Bianca insists taking my hand.

Bianca and I dance for a song; she asks about my meeting with the lawyer on Monday. I tell her it was fine, but I'm not holding out much hope that anything will happen with this case. I met with Dana alone on Monday, Drew met with her Tuesday, but Omar was with him. The boys come join us on the next song, the four of us dance until the curtains open and Whisper Hug is on stage. We stop dancing and cheer for Adam, the others too, but mostly Adam. Their song is good and everyone cheers when they're done and they come off stage.

"That was a good song, you played great Adam," Bianca smiles.

"Yeah, good job little bro. Whisper Hug is a pretty good band.

"Thanks, it was fun, but we need more songs," Adam grins.

"Now that you've played, you won't mind if I steal your brother will you?" Bianca asks.

"No you two have fun," Adam laughs.

"Goodnight," I smile as Bianca starts pulling Drew away.

"Night Clare," Drew says looking over his shoulder to grin at me.

"Eli Principal Simpson wants to speak with you," Mr. Perino says just after Drew and Bianca leave. "You too Adam, he's waiting in his office. I need to find Dave Turner and Tristan Milligan."

"Dave is right there dancing with Alli, but I'm not sure about Tristan," I remark pointing to Dave and Alli on the dance floor. Dave leaves with Adam and Eli, with our boyfriends gone Alli and I dance together. The boys return after a few songs, they tell us Simpson asked about Luke and Becky's behavior. Apparently the defacing of the posters wasn't the first show of bigotry.

"I'll be right back," Adam tells us before disappearing into the crowd. A slow song comes on, Eli takes my hand and we dance together. Adam appears again when the song is over, and Maya is with him. "I asked Maya out, she doesn't have a lot of time before curfew though, so we're just going to Above the Dot," Adam says.

"Aww you two are cute together," I smile.

"After party sounds good, you up for Above the Dot?" Eli asks me.

"Yeah, that sounds like fun," I grin.

"Well, let's go then," Eli smirks putting his arm around me.

 **(DREW)**

"Were you bored at the dance or something?" I ask Bianca as she drags me from the dance to her car.

"No, Adam's band was good, but I believe your house is empty for the next hour or so. I didn't think we should waste it," Bianca remarks.

I grin and get in the car, Adam can drive my car home. As soon as we're in the basement Bianca grabs my collar and pulls me to the sofa. She pushes me down, lying on me as her lips seal to mine. She's still holding my shirt with one hand and her other gently scratches along the side of my neck. I tunnel my hand into her thick curls and wrap my arm around her. Bianca's tongue licks across my lips before going through them to caress my tongue. Her tongue wraps around mine, she's being aggressive, unusually aggressive. I kind of like it, but it's not like her to be this aggressive. It's almost like she's trying to prove something.

As steamy as this make out session is after a while my mind kind of turns off. I'm sure we won't go farther than making out tonight and I'm getting really turned on. I try to distract myself, I think about sports first which only makes me think of Clare. Not that she's ever played sports, or seen me play sports, that I know I of. I have however been telling her sports stories to get her to go to sleep. So, I start thinking about school, which of course leads to me thinking of Clare.

Thinking about Clare is actually making me hornier, and I'm with Bianca. I'm with Bianca and she's kissing me hard and passionately, I should not be thinking of another girl. I am though and I'm getting really horny doing so. Knowing I need to stop this I break the kiss and push Bianca gently until I can sit up.

"What's the matter?" Bianca asks.

"Nothing, that was great, but my parents will be home soon. If they catch us doing that you'll never be allowed over again," I tell her.

"Yeah, guess I better get going," Bianca says. She grabs me again, giving me one last hard kiss. "Night, I love you," she smiles.

"I love you too," I grin.

Bianca goes through the basement door just as I hear my parents car in the driveway. I turn on the TV and wait for Mom to come downstairs.

"Where's your brother?" Mom asks from the stairs.

"Still at the dance probably, I left a little early."

"Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, just tired and I have to work tomorrow to make up the hours from today."

"That's very responsible Drew, I'm proud of you," Mom grins.

She goes back upstairs and I return to watching TV. I'm nearly through a movie when Dallas and Adam get home, barely squeaking in before curfew. Normal for Dallas, very unlike my brother.

"How was the rest of the dance?" I ask.

"Good, people liked our song. Luke and Becky got expelled for defacing the posters."

"Really? Expelled?"

"Yeah, it was considered a hate crime because of what they said, their slogans and graffiti. Plus, Tris had already made complaints about Luke and Becky's behavior. Luke had made some comments to me before too. And, he and Becky were bugging Tris and Dave when they were doing the photo shoot. All of it together gave Simpson grounds to expel them. Simpson talked to me, Eli, Dave and Tris during the dance. Simpson caught us as we were leaving the dance and told us about the expulsion then," Adam says.

"Yeah, and with Luke gone Owen is first string now. Luke was a good player, but he wasn't much good for the team. We had an emergency meeting about it after the dance," Dallas says.

"So, what were you doing all this time?" I ask Adam.

"I asked Maya out after the dance, we doubled with Eli and Clare," Adam replies. Now of course I'm thinking of Clare again.

"Cool, I didn't even know you liked Maya."

"I didn't either, but we've been spending a lot of time together. She's a little younger, but she's sweet and great with music," Adam grins.

"Cool, good for you bro. I'm going to go take a shower, I have to work tomorrow."

I go upstairs and into the washroom I share with Adam. I turn on the shower and get undressed. I've had Clare on my mind most of the evening and I'm still horny. I masturbate to thoughts of Clare, and immediately feel guilty for masturbating to thoughts of a girl that isn't Bianca. I shower and try to go to sleep, but it doesn't really work, I'm awake and thinking of Clare, feel guilty for thinking of Clare and try to think of Bianca. My mind always comes back to Clare though. Eventually I do get to sleep, and fall straight into a steamy dream about Clare. I'm awoken by my phone ringing, I blink my eyes when I see Clare's picture on it. It's as though she knows she's been on my mind all night, and part of me thinks I'm still dreaming.

"Clare?" I answer my phone with a yawn.

"Sorry," she apologizes sniffling in some tears.

"For what? What's wrong?" I question more awake now and sitting up a little.

"I'm sorry for waking you, I had a nightmare and I called you without thinking."

"What was the nightmare about?"

"Asher and what happened. Well, sort of," she says and sniffles again.

"What do you mean?"

"In my dream it started just as it really did. Me and Asher in his car, he was caressing my cheek and trying to get my clothes off. I told him no, I was trying to get away, but suddenly we were in a bedroom, his I think. I was trying to get away, I was telling him to stop and I was screaming, but he wouldn't, he got my clothes off and was going to rape me. I woke up just as he…" Clare's sentence trails off, but I know what she was going to say.

I want to be there, I want to hold her in my arms and tell her that she's safe, she's safe and with me. I'm so tempted to drive over there, I want so badly to hold her right now.

"You're safe Clare, you're at home, what Asher did was bad but he didn't rape you. He won't ever touch you again, I'll make sure of it."

"Thanks Drew, I feel better now. I am sorry I woke you up," she apologizes.

"Don't be, you couldn't sleep I'm glad you called me. Can you get back to sleep?"

"I don't think so," she replies.

"Okay settle in, more boring sports stories coming up. I don't think I've told you about playing little league in elementary," I comment and she giggles softly. I can see the soft smile on her lips as she giggles and it makes my heart flutter. Once again I wish I was with her and she was in my arms. I want my eyes to be gazing into her lovely sparkling blue eyes and see her wonderful smile.

I hear her moving a little, and I begin talking. After a couple of stories I hear her breathing become deep and regular, I know she's asleep. I whisper goodnight and hang up my phone, falling right to sleep again. When my alarm goes off I get dressed and go downstairs grabbing a quick breakfast before leaving for work. Martin isn't here today, but I'm just working on the anniversary project. I clock in and go down to the archives. It's a quiet morning, and being at The Interpreter all I can think of is Clare. This is bad, this is very bad and I don't know how to make it stop. When my shift is over I clock out from work and start driving home. I consider calling Bianca, just to get my mind off Clare. When my phone rings it's not Bianca, but Dave.

"Hey Dave."

"Hey, I need to practice for basketball tryouts want to meet me at the school and play some one on one?"

I can't play competitive sports anymore because of the concussions, but a friendly game of one on one is fine.

"Yeah, sure I need to go home and change first. I'll meet you at the school in half an hour."

Dave says cool and hangs up, no one is home when I get there, so I change quickly and drive to the school. Dave is here dribbling the basketball and taking practice shots.

"How was work?" Dave asks tossing the ball to me.

"Fine since I didn't see Asher, you heard anything about the case against him?" I questions dribbling the ball and tossing it back to Dave.

"I know my dad is on the team investigating him, but I haven't heard anything," Dave replies. He tosses the ball back to me, I dribble a couple of times and get ready to shoot, but then something occurs to me.

"Hey Dave, what happened when you cheated on Alli with Jacinta? I mean you love Alli right?"

"Yeah, more than anything. Cheating on her was the stupidest thing I've ever done and I'd do anything to take it back. I was just stupid and weak, I missed Alli and Jacinta was there, she made me feel good. It was not worth how terrible I felt afterward, and I almost lost Alli. Why you asking? I mean you cheated on Alli with Bianca," Dave comments.

"Yeah, but Alli and I weren't good together. I didn't love Alli and it was too easy to be tempted by Bianca, but this is different."

"What do you mean? What's different?" Dave inquires.

"Whenever Clare smiles at me I get butterflies in my stomach. I have a major crush on Clare, but I'm sure I love Bianca."

"You have a crush on Clare? Does Bianca know?" Dave questions in a shocked tone.

"I think she suspects something I don't know what though, she hasn't exactly asked and she's not mean to Clare or anything, they actually get a long pretty well."

"Does Clare know how you feel?"

"Honestly, I don't know. We've been spending a lot of time together but I was there for her, she may just feel safe with me. I mean her and Eli are like this epic romance how do I compete with that

"Yeah speaking of Eli you'd better hope he doesn't find out. I like Eli he's a good guy, but given the lengths he's gone to before when it comes to Clare better he not know," Dave comments.

Suddenly I get this flash of Eli finding out I like Clare and going nuts on me. I picture him trying to run me over with that old hearse of his, even though he totaled it when he crashed. Crashed the car to get Clare to come see him in the hospital.

"Yeah, better that Eli never find out. C'mon let's get you ready for tryouts," I remark shooting the ball and making a perfect basket.

 **Update soon likely beginning with opening night of Eli's play. Next story to be updated is** _ **Alone on a School Night**_ **.**


	9. Always Wanting to be with You

**Sorry guys life is very very very busy and hectic right now, will remain so until about mid-June. I'll get chapters up as often as I can.**

 **Anyway, enjoy the chapter!**

 **Ch.9 Always Wanting to be with You**

 **(DREW)**

"Maybe I should just make a recording of myself telling you these sports stories," I tease upon answering my phone.

When my phone rang at 1AM on Thursday night (well, technically Friday morning) I answered without even looking at it. I knew it could only be one person; Clare. She calls almost every night because she can't sleep, then I tell her stories of me playing sports, and we usually fall asleep together on the phone. It's been a week since the dance, and a week without Luke and Becky at the school, which has been nice. Adam's been very busy this last week between his band, the play (which opens this evening) and his budding relationship with Maya. I've barely seen him and we live together, and I know Clare's only seen him at school. Eli's been consumed with the play, and he's barely been around for Clare or seen her all week. Which in a way has been good for me because it's left me a lot of time to spend with Clare. Of course, I then feel guilty about wanting to spend time with her and call Bianca after. Then again, my girlfriend has been really busy this last week with Bright Sparks, which then has left me more time with Clare.

Clare was spending a lot of extra time at her new co-op, she really enjoyed it and said Caitlin was a fabulous mentor. In entirely different ways than she thought Asher was a good mentor. She gets along really well with Caitlin and was always happy to volunteer for extra work. The fact that Clare so often did co-op after school actually gave the two of us more time to spend together. The station was on the way to The Interpreter and I would often give Clare a ride and then pick her up when we were both down. The drives meant a lot of time together, and I would often drive rather slow, take the long way or find some errands to do on the drives to extend our time together. My crush on Clare was rapidly growing, my feelings for her getting deeper and deeper, though I still love Bianca, I'm certain of that...I think.

"I'm sorry, I called without thinking, did I wake you up?" She asks with a regretful tone.

"I wasn't asleep yet, and I told you to call me when you couldn't sleep. As long as my boring sports stories are helping you sleep then I want you to call me."

"Thanks Drew, but I still feel bad, there's no reason you should be kept awake too," she sighs.

"If it helps you sleep then it's fine, anyway you're not keeping me awake, and I kind of like falling asleep on the phone with you."

"You do?" She asks with this certain tone of hope in her voice and a smile on her lips that I can hear. Just thinking of her smile makes me smile.

"Yeah, I do. Now then, I think we were talking about football last night," I begin.

I tell her a couple football stories, making sure to get into the detail on plays and ref calls, even the coach's speech. I fall asleep talking again, and wake up to Clare's soft voice.

"Morning Drew, you fell asleep putting me to sleep again," she says. Even first thing in the morning, and rough with sleep, her voice sounds beautiful to me. In the back of my mind I picture her in the bed with me, kissing me softly to wake me up.

"It's the best way to fall asleep. I should get up though, I'll see you at school."

"See you at school," she says before hanging up.

Getting up with a yawn and a stretch, I go to the closet to get clothes. I hear Adam leave his room and go into the washroom, so I get dressed and wait until he's out. I'm the last one to the breakfast table, which is typical, and Dad's already left for work. We eat and I drive us to school, arriving just after Clare and Jake, so we all walk in together.

"Everything ready for opening night?" Jake asks Adam.

"Yep, we're all set. We have a final dress rehearsal right after school," Adam replies.

"We'll all be there tonight," Clare smiles.

Once we're inside we split up; Dallas goes to his team, Jake leaves to find Katie, and Clare goes off with my brother. Bianca and I go to our lockers, hanging out near her locker until we walk to class a few minutes before the bell. It's Friday, there's a hockey game tonight, a basketball game and the play opens tonight, so there's a lot of excitement in the school today.

The play opens tonight, runs all weekend, and Thursday and Friday night next week, just before March break. Which means Adam will be very busy, but Eli will also be very busy, so my mind instantly starts thinking of ways I could spend time with Clare.

With all the excitement the day goes by pretty quickly, Adam stays after school and Dallas has his game. Bianca comes home with me and we eat dinner with my parents before going to the play in separate cars. We're some of the first to arrive, we get seats up front, though Bianca and I sit on the opposite side as my parents. While we're sitting there looking at the set, and through the program, Clare comes from the stage door. She must have been back there with Eli.

"Clare, you should sit with us," Bianca smiles waving her over.

"Thanks Bianca, hi Drew," Clare smiles sitting on the other side of me.

Great, I get to sit mostly in the dark between the girl I love (I think) and the girl I have a major crush on, but it's just a crush (I think) this should be fun. We talk for a few minutes, Alli comes in and sits on the other side of Clare which is good, hopefully Clare will talk to her. It doesn't help, of course Alli starts talking, Clare is turned to her, I'm turned toward Bianca, but our backs are touching. I didn't even think about leaning against her, it just happened. As though I just needed to touch her, if Clare minds that I'm leaning against her she doesn't say anything or move. In the back of my mind I'm hoping she wanted to be touching me too.

When the lights go down and the play begins we both turn toward the stage, but our arms are still touching. The play is good, better than I thought it would be, during one of the songs Clare's hand slips down and brushes mine. Without even thinking my hand moves a little, we're not quite holding hands, but we're not-not holding hands either. We stay that way for the rest of the play our hands come apart to clap at the end of scenes. When we're done clapping however, our hands end up together at our sides sort of holding each other again. When the play ends we stand and cheer, Adam never comes on stage as stage manager, but of course Eli takes a big bow at the end.

After a final curtain call Eli, Adam and the rest of the crew come from backstage. Followed by the actors still in costume, and friends and family start congratulating everyone. Clare goes up to Eli and they share a passionate kiss, watching them kiss sends this terrible stabbing through my chest.

"What did you guys think?" Adam asks coming over with his arm around Maya.

"It was good, better than I thought it would be," I grin.

"It was great, you all did a wonderful job," Bianca smiles.

"We're all going to a cast party at Above the Dot, you two are welcome to come," Adam offers.

I'm sure Clare is going, a part of me just really wants to be around her. But, she'll be going with Eli and I do not want to watch them together all night.

"Actually, we're going to grab some dessert and make our own party," I tell my brother. He grins, Maya's cheeks go red and Bianca smiles.

"See you at home," Adam says.

"Come on, I have an idea," I whisper to Bianca.

We turn and walk out, I text Mom that I'm going out with Bianca and will be home by curfew. We drive to The Dot and get chocolate cake and coffee, then we return to the school, around the back and to the soccer field. I grab a blanket from the trunk and we go out to the center of the field lying the blanket down. We share the cake, sip our coffee, feed each other, laugh and kiss, and yet at the back of my mind is Clare. Even when Bianca and I have finished the cake and are just making out Clare is there at the back of my mind. The more I'm making out with my girlfriend and not thinking the more conscious my thoughts of Clare become. Until, despite the fact that my lips, tongue and hands are all about Bianca, my mind is all about Clare. Since I'm kissing my girlfriend, but thinking about Clare, my thoughts quickly turn from innocent thoughts to fantasizing about doing this with Clare. My fantasies get really steamy really fast, I need to stop this and I break the kiss.

"You okay?" Bianca asks.

I move quickly, taking my phone from my pocket, "Just wanted to see the time. Need to get you home by curfew. Which is pretty soon, we should clean up and head back to the car."

I gather the trash and toss it while Bianca folds the blanket. Her car is still at the school, so after putting the blanket in my car I walk her to her car. I kiss her goodnight, walk back to my car and drive home. Dallas is just getting home, Adam is still out, I say goodnight to Dallas and go to my room. I get ready for bed, but I'm still horny and thinking about Clare, I masturbate to fantasies of her before getting to sleep.

 **(CLARE)**

I call Drew without a second thought, but my heart starts pounding a little. My first instinct really should not be to call Drew. I rationalize it to myself with the fact that Eli will be busy with the play, which opened last night, and that Jake needs his truck, even though he's home and asleep right now.

"Hey Clare," Drew yawns.

"Sorry, did I wake you up?"

"It's fine, what's up?"

"Caitlin asked if I could come in today, I was hoping you could give me a ride? I'd ask Eli b…"

"No, I can take you," Drew says before I even finish the sentence. "When do you need to be there?"

"She wants me there in an hour."

"I'll pick you up in half an hour," Drew replies.

"Thanks Drew."

I hang up with Drew and finish getting ready. Mom and Glen are gone running errands, I still text Mom that I'm going into work. I'm waiting outside when Drew picks me up.

"Thanks for doing this Drew, I'm sure this isn't how you wanted to spend a Saturday morning," I comment as I buckle up.

"It's no problem, I still have a lot of work to do on the anniversary project. I called Martin and asked if I could work today to catch up a little. He said that was fine, so I'll get some work done too. You can call me when you're done with work and I'll pick you up," Drew tells me and I smile. "Any plans for March break?" Drew asks after a moment.

"No, but I'm sure I'll hang out with Adam," I comment and Drew grins. I'm not mentioning Eli because I don't want to think about Eli right now. Not when I'm with Drew. Not when he's so close I can smell him, his deodorant, his aftershave, his naturally sweet and spicy scent. "Do you have any plans?"

"No, hanging out with Owen probably," Drew replies. He doesn't mention his girlfriend either, I wait a second but he says nothing about Bianca. I smile and bite my lip, wondering if he didn't mention Bianca for the same reason I didn't mention Eli.

We're silent for the rest of the ride, it doesn't matter I just wanted to steal a few minutes with Drew. When he drops me off I thank him again for the ride, using it as an excuse to place a soft kiss on his cheek. He grins and waves as he drives off.

"Thanks for coming in Clare, this was a last minute story I did last night. Snake says you're the best at English in the whole school," Caitlin comments when I come in.

"I don't know about that, but I am pretty good."

"How about at editing and script writing? I was hoping you could edit the copy and help with writing a script for the promos and introductory segment?"

"I can do that," I smile. I work mostly with Caitlin for the next four hours, the time flies by, I love working with Caitlin.

"You're a life saver Clare, I could not have done all that without you this morning," Caitlin smiles when we're done.

"I loved it, a lot more exciting than fact checking."

"I'll try to get you some more time editing copy, and maybe even helping write segments."

"That would be amazing," I grin excitedly.

"I'm just going to clean up and lock up. Do you have a way home?"

"Yeah, my friend Drew will come get me."

I text Drew that I'm done and he says he'll be here in ten minutes. I use the washroom, say goodbye to Caitlin and wait outside for Drew.

"How'd it go?" Drew asks when I get in the car.

"Really great, Caitlin let me write scripts for promos and the introductory segment with her. She also let me edit the copy. She said she'd try to let me do more of that, I'm so much happier at this internship," I smile. Drew looks at me, sees my smile and smiles back. "How'd work on the anniversary project go?"

"Good, it's a lot quieter on the weekends, of course I was alone the whole time anyway. I did get a lot of work done though. Have you eaten yet? I was thinking about grabbing some lunch," Drew comments.

"I had a granola bar for breakfast, but now that you say that I am pretty hungry."

"There's a really good Indian restaurant up ahead, they have a good buffet," Drew suggests.

"Yeah, that sounds good," I smile.

Drew grins back and drives to the restaurant, I've driven past it a few times, but I've never been here. We always go to Mom's favorite or order from the Indian place down the street from us.

"How's your food?" Drew asks after we've been eating a moment.

"It's really good, you were right about this place," I smile.

"Yeah, it's Dad's favorite restaurant, he always likes to celebrate here when he's closed a case."

I grin to myself getting an image of Audra, Omar, Adam and Drew sitting in one of the booths and celebrating. Drew must have been really hungry because he scarfs down his food. Not wanting to leave or be away from Drew just yet I eat as slowly as I can without it seeming like I'm doing so intentionally.

"Guess I should get you home now," Drew comments when I've swallowed my last bite.

"Yeah, I should get home," I agree. Even though being home right now is the last thing I want to do.

We get back in the car and I spend the entire drive trying to convince myself to say something to Drew. To tell him how I feel, that I like to be with him, that I find excuses to do so. Tell him that I can't sleep without hearing his voice. Confess that there are moments every day when I want nothing more than to be in his arms. Reveal to him that lately my only desire is to feel his lips kissing mine.

"Drew," I begin when he parks at my house and then I lose all my nerve. He looks at me, his head cocked slightly to one side, his eyes gazing at me. All I see in his eyes are Eli and Bianca, and I all lose all my nerve to confess my feelings.

"Yes Clare?" He prods when I've said nothing.

"Uh, thanks…for driving, and taking me to the Indian place."

"No problem, call me if you need a ride again."

"I will," I smile. Drew smiles back, I get out of the car, he waits until I'm inside to drives off. I go up to my room wondering how long I can keep my feelings for Drew locked away?

 **(BIANCA)**

"Hey Beautiful," Drew says when he answers his phone.

"Hey, what are you up to today? I thought I'd come hang out in an hour or so, stay for dinner? Maybe sneak away for some alone time?" I ask cooing my voice.

It's Wednesday, March break is half over and I've barely seen my boyfriend. I want time with him, but I'm also hoping everyone else has plans and I can get Drew alone. I'd barely seen him at all, he said it was because he was busy at work, I wasn't so sure.

"Just playing video games with Dallas, you can come over whenever you want," Drew replies.

"Great, I'll see you in a bit then."

I hang up and go to my closet, it's a bit chilly outside today, but it'll be warm in my car and his house. So, I choose a tight black skirt, and red top with a neckline that plunges farther than it should. It's partially filled in with lace, but you still see a lot of my cleavage. Red heels and my black leather jacket complete my outfit, I keep jewelry simple, just rings, if I manage to get Drew alone jewelry will just get in the way. I keep makeup pretty simple too, with the exception of deep red lipstick, essentially painting a bullseye for Drew's lips.

I lock the apartment when I leave, my auntie is sleeping since she works nights. On the whole drive I'm thinking about what we'll do if we can be alone. I park and my smile grows bigger in anticipation of seeing him. Only, when I come into the basement the only one I see is Dallas. I instantly deflate, my heart sinking into my shiny red heels.

"Mmmm, you look smokin'," Dallas grins ending it with a wolf whistle, "what's the occasion?"

"I was hoping for some time alone with my boyfriend, where is he?"

"He ran out a short time ago, Adam called, something about Clare I think? Anyway, Drew just said he had to go," Dallas shrugs.

I growl in aggravation and get out my phone. I try calling Drew twice and he doesn't answer. I toss my phone onto the sofa with a small frustrated scream.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger," Dallas says dodging my phone.

"Sorry," I apologize as I sink down on the sofa. "I love Drew, but I think he has feelings for Clare. I'm certain that their feelings for each other go beyond friendship, I don't think Drew loves me anymore, and I don't know what to do."

"You're probably right about Drew and Clare, they have been spending a lot of time together. The best thing for you to do is to move on, be with someone that really cares about you, and will treat you the way you deserve," Dallas remarks.

All of a sudden he's next to me on the sofa and we're kissing. A few weeks ago, when I was still sure that Drew loved me, I would have pushed Dallas away and slapped him hard. I don't do either, in fact I lean back on the sofa, scratch my nails along of the back of his neck and part my lips for him. Dallas grins into the kiss, sliding an arm around my lower back as his tongue begins to fight with mine for dominance. I'm not sure how long we're kissing, long enough that I'm thinking about pulling him back to his bedroom. Before I can do this I hear Drew and Adam coming, now I push Dallas away from me. I sit up, fix my hair and wipe off whatever lipstick remains on my lips.

"…feel like we shouldn't have left h…" Drew is saying, but stops when he comes through the door and sees me on the sofa. "Shit, B I'm sorry I completely forgot. Adam called a…"

"Let's go talk in your room," I insist jumping up and taking his hand. I pull him all the way up to his bedroom, thankfully his parents aren't home or I don't think Audra would have allowed us into the room. "I love you Drew, but I don't think you feel the same way."

"Yes I do, of course I do!" He snaps back defensively.

"I believe you're starting to fall for Clare, or maybe you already have. Don't deny it please, I've seen the way you look at her, the way you smile every time she smiles at you, I don't think you ever did that with me. I'm not mad, I'm not exactly happy, but it's not your fault you fell for someone else. It's not Clare's fault either, it just happened. I was upset when I got here, when you didn't answer your phone. And, then I spent the afternoon making out with Dallas, I liked it, I like him," I confess to Drew.

"Dallas? Really?" It's Drew's only response, no anger, no jealousy, no storming off to hit Dallas. It's really the only confirmation I need that he let me go a long time ago, and I just didn't want to let him go.

"Yeah, Dallas. He's a good guy, he can be cocky, but so can Owen. It won't be weird for you will it? If I start dating Dallas?"

"Maybe a little at first, but if you guys are happy then I'd be happy for you."

"You're a good guy Drew, you should tell Clare how you feel," I advise him. Leaving Drew in his room I go down to the basement again, Adam is still down here, but gets up when he sees me.

"I'm just going to check on Drew," Adam says and practically runs past me.

"Want to go somewhere?" I ask Dallas.

"Definitely," he grins.

He stands up, I link my arms around his neck and crush my lips to his for a salacious kiss.

 **(ADAM)**

"Thanks for coming with me Clare, I never could have found a birthday present for Maya without you," I grin.

I'd called Clare this morning and asked her to come with me downtown to find Maya a birthday present. Maya and I had only been on a few dates, we doubled with Eli and Clare after the dance. She'd been my date to the after party on opening night of the play, although I'm not sure that could be considered a date. We'd doubled with Clare and Eli again last Friday, after the last showing of the play, and the last day of school before March break. Maya and I went out last night alone, really our first date just the two of us. It was Wednesday today, but it's March break so we didn't have to be up for school. Last night over dinner is when Maya mentioned her birthday, it was this coming weekend and she'd be away with her family, but I still wanted to get her something.

"No problem Adam, I'm glad we f…"

"YOU STUPID BITCH," a man yells storming over.

Clare looks at him and freezes, she tenses up, she's terrified but also angry. She finds some courage and I see her take a deep breath to speak. "Asher, what are you doing here?"

I thought he might be Asher, but knowing that he is I get out my phone and start filming. If he tries to hurt her I'll kill him, I'm behind him and I see one of Helen's gardening trowels in the bushes. As long as he's just berating her I'll get it on video and call the cops. Clare may not have any evidence of his past abuse, but this is evidence.

"You pressed charges, I'm being investigated! I was sure the case would be dropped, there is no evidence of anything. No one should believe you," Asher growls.

"Are you angry because I was brave enough to press charges, or because despite my tweets about working with you people do believe me?" Clare questions, her voice is hard and steely, but I see that she's still afraid.

Asher takes a step toward her and I keep filming, but grab the gardening trowel to be safe.

"If you ruin my career over this I will make you regret it for the rest of your life," Asher snarls. He grabs her arm and I turn off the camera while getting between them.

"Let her go, I called the cops," I tell him. Although technically I haven't called the cops yet.

Asher glares at me, back at Clare, he lets go of her arm as he sort of shoves her away. "I'll make you regret ever pressing charges," he whispers to her in a malicious growl. Asher storm back to his car, slams his door and drives off, peeling out so fast that his tires squeal on the pavement.

I put an arm around Clare and we go in her house. She was doing pretty well holding it together, but now that we're in her house she starts to breakdown. I take her to the sofa and sit with her while I call Officer Turner. I tell him about Asher waiting for Clare and ambushing her, and that he threatened her, and grabbed her. I also tell him that I got most of it on video. Officer Turner says he's coming with another officer, and the next person I call is Eli. Only Eli doesn't answer, I leave a message to call me or come to Clare's as soon as he gets the message. Then I call Drew, because I know he'll want to know, and because I know Clare trusts him. He was the one she called after both incidents with Asher, and Drew comforted her after both.

"Hey Adam, what's up?" Drew asks. From his voice and the noises on the phone I can tell he's playing video games and holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder.

"Asher just ambushed Clare outside her house and threatened her."

"What? Are you at her house?"

"Yeah, Officer Turner is on his way."

"Tell Clare I'm coming," Drew says before hanging up.

"Drew's on his way, Officer Turner should be here at any minute," I assure Clare while rubbing her back.

"What about Eli?"

"I don't know; I couldn't get a hold of him. I'm sure he'll be over as soon as he hears my voicemail. Should I call your parents? Or Jake?" I offer. I feel kind of helpless right now; I just want to make my friend feel better.

"Maybe call Glen and tell him there will be cops at the house. Mom will freak out, you can text Jake, let him know in case he comes back. I think he's out with Katie though," Clare says. She's controlling herself enough to get her phone out and give it to me. I find Glen and Jake's numbers and put them in my phone, I call Glen first.

"Hello?"

"It's Adam, I just wanted to let you know that there may be cops here when you get home. Asher was waiting for Clare and accosted her outside your house. He's gone now, I got some of it on video and called the cops."

"Thanks Adam, how's Clare? Do we need to come home?"

"I get the feeling that Helen might not be a very calming presence right now. My brother's on his way," I reply.

"I'm on a job site, but I'll call Helen and ask her to come to me before she goes home. Tell Clare if she needs us we'll both be home right now," Glen replies.

"I will," I respond and hang up. "Glen's going to have your mom come to him before she comes home. He said if you needed them they'd both come home right now."

"Probably better if they don't," Clare remarks just as the doorbell rings.

"That's probably Officer Turner, or maybe Drew, either way I'll get it."

When I get to the door I see it's Officer Turner with another man, looks like a detective. I let them in and show them into the living room. I wait by the door since I know Drew will be here at any minute, leaning on the wall as I text Jake.

 **Adam: It's Adam. Clare thought you should know there may be cops here when you get home. Asher was waiting for her, he accosted her outside the house. Officer Turner and a detective are here now taking her statement.**

I wasn't actually expecting him to reply right away, so I'm somewhat surprised when I get an immediate text back.

 **Jake: He was waiting for her? He's stalking her now? Is she okay?**

 **Adam: He grabbed her arm, but he didn't hurt her, I don't think. I didn't actually look at her arm. Mostly, he threatened her, which I got on video. She's shaken but physically she's okay. Drew's on his way.**

 **Jake: She probably doesn't want us all there, but tell her if she needs us we'll come over too.**

I text back that I will just as Drew parks out front. I slip my phone back into my pocket and open the door to let my brother in. Drew doesn't say anything, just follows me into the living room. Clare smiles when she sees him, and even looks a little calmer. Officer Turner and the detective take Clare's statement; they get pictures of her arm where Asher grabbed her. They take my statement as well, and I send them the video.

"If you want to press charges we can arrest Asher," Officer Turner tells Clare when they're done.

"Yes, I'm pressing charges," she nods.

"We'll get a warrant out; it will take some time to go through the process. If you see Asher again call us right away," Officer Turner tells Clare.

She says she will, Officer Turner says he'll be in touch and they leave. As soon as they're gone Drew sits by Clare and hugs her tightly.

"I wish I had been here; I would have punched him out. I can't do it at work, but I would have had plenty of reason this afternoon," Drew comments.

"I was ready to stab him with the gardening trowel if necessary," I comment and they both smile at me.

"I just hope they arrest him today. Why'd he come after you now? You pressed charges nearly a month ago," Drew comments.

"I think people are starting to believe me, and that they may have found more girls to come forward. I think he was so angry because he was scared he might actually lose," Clare says.

"Yeah, he was definitely scared," I nod just as the doorbell rings. I walk to the door and see Eli standing behind the glass. "Eli's here," I call to them and instantly Drew moves about ten feet from Clare. I open the door to let Eli in, "Hey Eli, she's okay just a little shaken."

 **Update soon picking up from about here in Clare's pov.**


	10. All the things You Long to Hear

**I actually got this chapter up faster than I was expecting to. Next week at my day job (if I didn't have to have the job I wouldn't) will be crazy! I have no idea how much time or energy I will have to write or when the next chapter will go up.**

 **Ch. 10 All the things You Long to Hear**

 **(CLARE)**

"What happened?" Eli asks rushing over to me. He takes me in his arms, holding me the way Drew had been a few seconds ago. It's always comforting and nice to be in my boyfriend's arms, yet I long to be back in Drew's.

"Asher accosted her outside the house. I got most of it on video, and called the cops. Clare pressed charges, he'll be arrested. He was waiting for her here, I'm glad I was here, he was pissed," Adam explains.

"Me too, I wish I'd been here though, I would have killed him," Eli says holding me a little tighter.

"Adam was here, he was ready to stab Asher with the gardening trowel if necessary," I assure Eli.

Eli grins at Adam and then looks back at me stroking my hair, "Why don't you come to my house, I'll bring you back by curfew."

"Okay," I nod.

"We should get home anyway, I'll call you tomorrow Clare," Adam says.

"Or call…us if you need anything," Drew adds. He hesitated briefly because I know he wanted to say to call him, but with Eli here he didn't.

"Thanks, both of you," I smile getting out of my boyfriend's arms to hug the brothers. I don't care what Eli thinks, Drew has been helpful and supportive. He didn't need to rush over here, but he did and I'm going to hug him to express my appreciation.

The four of us walk out together, Adam and Drew waving as they get into his car. Eli has his mom's car; he opens the passenger door for me before going around to the driver's side.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there; I'm glad Adam was there with you. He's the only one I trust to protect you as I would," Eli remarks taking my hand to interlace our fingers.

I open my mouth to respond, my very first thought being that Drew would have protected me too. I close my mouth again however; I know that making this argument will lead to a bigger one. I also know that Eli is wrong, that just about any of my friends would not have just stood by and watched Asher accost me. I keep silent though, I don't feel like arguing.

When we get to Eli's house we say a brief hello to his parents, and go up to his room. Eli puts on a movie, a light comedy, and we lie on his bed. He wraps me in his arms, I feel safe, protected even, but something is missing, the way he's holding me feels more possessive than comforting. It starts to feel constricting and after about ten minutes I ask for something to drink. When he returns I'm sitting up, he hands the water and sits next to me. He can't hold me like he was, but keeps his arm around me for the whole movie. I like being with Eli, and yet in the back of my mind I wish Drew was here.

Eli and I eat dinner with his parents, but he doesn't tell them about Asher. We return to his room to watch another movie, another comedy, but I'm not really paying attention. I'm not laughing at any of the funny parts and Eli notices.

"I can put on something else," he offers.

"No, it's not the movie, my mind is just somewhere else. Actually, would you mind taking me home? I'm kind of tired and I'd like to shower before I got bed," I request. I'm not really tired, I just don't feel like Eli's company right now.

"You should sleep here; we'll just sleep I promise. After Asher showed up at your house today I'm sure your mom will let you. What if he comes back? If you're here, then I can protect you."

"I pressed charges Eli, he's going to be arrested. If Asher does come back, then my parents are home and so is Jake. Anyway, after what happened I really want to go home and sleep in my own bed. I just have a lot on my mind right now," I try to reason with my boyfriend.

"Jake won't protect you, not like I will. Stay here, even if Asher finds you here we have guns."

I'm not even sure how to respond to this, he just said he'd shoot Asher on sight. When I don't answer Eli continues his argument.

"Asher was there waiting for you; he's stalking you now. He could just be waiting for you to come back alone, and it's getting dark. I don't trust at all that your family will protect you like I would. No one could protect you like I will, no one else loves you the way that I do," Eli says holding my arm tightly, his eyes locked onto mine and narrowed into slits. This is all starting to sound familiar, he's sounding a lot like he did last year when Fitz came back. "Adam will, he'll protect you for me, but no one else. No one else, no o…"

"ELI," I say sharply cutting him off, "if you don't want to take me then I'll call Jake and have him pick me up."

His eyes narrow even more, into these suspicious green slits, his mouth going into one thin line. For a moment I hold my breath, until Eli exhales and releases my arm. His face relaxes, he even smiles softly. Once again I'm reminded of old behavior and I shiver inadvertently.

"No, I'll take you, but I still think you should stay the night here."

"Asher won't come back to the house, and if he does my family will be home. They will protect me, and I will call the cops right away if I do see Asher. I've never slept over Eli, and I don't really want my first night sleeping over to be after what happened today."

"You're right, at least about the sleeping over. I still think you'll be safer here, but let's get you home," he says sliding off his bed. I grab my purse and slip my shoes back on, Eli tells his mom he's taking me home and he needs her car. "Are you really ready to stay over? Did you mean it when you said you wanted to sleep at my house, on a night when you haven't been accosted by your former boss?"

"Yes, of course Eli. Another night, after a date or something, when I don't have so much on my mind. A night when I'm not thinking about everything that Asher did to me," I tell him. Even as the words come from my mouth I'm not sure that I mean them. I'm saying it to assuage Eli, and because I don't have the energy for a fight right now.

It's not that I'm necessarily opposed to sleeping at my boyfriend's place, or even what it might lead to. I'm just not sure I want to stay the night with Eli, that I want to be with him. When I think about staying the night at a boy's house to be with him, Drew is always the first one to my mind. Which of course I'm not about to tell Eli, or Drew for that matter. I wonder how long I can continue to avoid sleeping at Eli's? How long will the Asher excuse work?

"Do you want me to come in?" He asks as he parks in front of my house.

"No, better not, pretty sure my mom will freak out for a bit, I don't think you want to be around for that."

"Good point, I'll call you tomorrow," he says leaning over to give me a quick kiss, "I love you."

"I love you too," I smile and get out of the car.

It's not until I get out of the car and am walking to my front door alone that I feel exposed. This where Asher ambushed me a few hours ago, and now Adam isn't with me. Eli is still watching me from his car though, I didn't want him to come in, but he could have at least walked me to the door. I can't help but think that Drew would have walked me to the door.

Asher isn't around, I make it to my door and start to unlock it as I turn and wave to Eli. I don't even get the key in all the way before the door opens and mom brings me into a tight embrace. She manages to walk backwards a few steps and lock the door without ever really letting go of me.

"What nerve that…that man has, attacking you in our front yard. He must have been stalking you, I'll call your lawyer tomorrow and have him prosecuted for stalking. I'll have him arrested a…"

"Helen," Glen interrupts her, "take a breath. Let go of Clare so she can breathe."

I smile at my stepfather as my mom reluctantly releases me. "Adam got it on video Mom, Asher will be arrested. I'm tired and I'd like to take a shower and get to bed," I tell them, not wanting to discuss this any further with my mom.

"Of course Honey, you just let us know if you need anything," Mom says.

"She's been like that since they got home," Jake whispers as he follows me up the stairs.

"I knew she would be, that's why I didn't want her home right after it happened."

"Are you okay? Should I sleep on your floor with a knife just in case," Jake offers with a slight sarcastic edge laced in his tone.

"No," I laugh, "I'd be more worried about you accidentally hurting yourself or me. I'll be okay, it was scary, but Adam was there. I don't like that Asher followed me home, but I am glad Adam got it on video, that's undeniable proof."

Jake hugs me and goes into his room, I go into my room setting down my purse and taking off my shoes. I grab my bathrobe hanging on the back of my door as I go out to the washroom. Shutting and locking the door behind me, switching on the fan and then the water. I turn the handle to just the right point for the water to start heating up and then I start to undress. Adjusting the temperature to just right before I step in, closing my eyes as I stick my head under the water. I use my hands to run over my hair with the water, my mind clearing as the warm water starts to soothe me.

The very first thought to pop into my clear head: Drew!

 **(DREW)**

"Everything okay?" Adam asks coming into my room cautiously. "Bianca doesn't generally leave your room that fast, especially when Mom and Dad are gone."

"We broke up; I guess it's been coming for a while. Apparently, she likes Dallas," I tell my brother.

"I don't think she broke up with you because she suddenly decided she likes Dallas. I think your breakup had more to do with the fact that you have feelings for Clare," Adam states.

"How'd you know? I haven't been calling out her name in my sleep or something have I?"

"No," he laughs, "but you have been spending a lot of time together. Lately, it seems like you've been finding excuses to spend time together. She calls you almost every night and you stay on the phone for a long time. When Asher attacked her I knew I should call you, both for you and for her. I'm pretty sure Clare has the same feelings for you, and now you're single. Will it be weird for you to see Bianca and Dallas together?"

"At first maybe, but I haven't cared for Bianca in the same way in a long time. I spent a long time convincing myself that I was in love with Bianca still, I wasn't. I was scared that Clare didn't feel the same way about me, that she and I were barely friends, and she loved Eli, so I kept telling myself I was still in love with Bianca."

"You didn't think Clare calling you when she couldn't sleep, calling you after Asher's kiss and attack meant anything?"

"I don't know, I hoped it did, then again she was still with Eli, so I told myself it's because I worked there. Or because she was afraid of how Eli would react, because I saw Asher's behavior," I shrug.

"You always were good at making excuses. She could have called me, or Jake, or Alli, or Dave if it was only because she didn't know how Eli would react. She called you because she wanted you."

"Then why is she still dating Eli?"

"Their relationship has always been complicated, Eli's emotions and moods can be erratic. I'm certain she has feelings for you too, but that doesn't mean she just stopped loving Eli."

"Great, so the only thing standing between me and Clare being together is your other best friend."

"No, the only thing standing between you and Clare is you two talking about how you feel. I doubt Eli's going to be thrilled, but if he really cares about her and she wants to be with you then he has to let her go. It shouldn't affect my friendship with him, and hopefully not their friendship either, but you do need to talk to her. If you don't tell Clare how you feel and that you want to be with her then you can't blame Eli for sanding in your way."

"You're right, as usual, I'll talk to her. Not tonight though, she's with Eli and after what happened today I doubt that's what she needs," I tell Adam. He grins and pats my back, and something occurs to me. "Would it bother you?"

"You and Clare?" Adam questions and I nod. "I don't think I would have ever pictured you two together, especially because you and Bianca seemed to be so good together. However, I've spent the last ten weeks watching the two of you grow close, spend time together, rely on each other. I've watched you comforting her and being her strength more than anyone. If you two are happy and it's what you want, then I'm 100% behind you and happy for you."

"Thanks Adam," I grin.

"Come on, let's go play video games until dinner," Adam says.

We get up and go cautiously to the basement, I half expect Dallas and Bianca to be making out on the sofa. They seem to have left though, which is good. I'm cool with them being together, it doesn't mean I want to watch them kissing on my sofa.

Adam and I start playing video games and we hear Mom get home a short time later. We stay in the basement until Mom calls us up for dinner, Dallas does not return for dinner. We tell Mom and Dad what Asher did over dinner, they ask if Clare's okay, and Dad says he'll call to find out if the warrant was issued tomorrow morning. Not really wanting to have the conversation with Dallas about him and Bianca tonight, I decide to shower after dinner, and spend the rest of the night in my room. Around eleven my phone rings and its Clare, this is a lot earlier than she usually calls, I haven't even started getting ready for bed.

"You okay?"

"No, not really. It's not even that I can't sleep, actually I can't even get tired enough to want to sleep. I feel like I'm going crazy, do I sound crazy?"

"Not at all, what makes you think you're going crazy?"

"Because I have a thousand thoughts on my mind, but at the same time I can't seem to think at all. Yet, my mind is full of stuff, so many thoughts and…things that I can hardly sit still. Even though nothing really happened this afternoon the back of my mind is playing through all the possible outcomes of what could have happened. Do I sound crazy yet?"

"No, you sound like you've been through something traumatic and your mind is trying to cope. I did the same after everything with Anson, Vince and getting beat up."

"You saved Bianca from getting raped and accidentally killed a boy, and when you wouldn't sell drugs Vince had you beaten, badly beaten. That was truly traumatic and you went through PTSD, I got yelled at by my former mentor, it's not at all the same, I shouldn't be feeling this way."

"That's not true Clare, what you went through is still traumatic. He came to your house, a place that should be secure. I'm betting now you probably don't feel as secure as you did just knowing he knows where you live. I'm glad Adam was there, I know you are too, but even with Adam there were you afraid that Asher would hurt you?"

"Yes," she admits quietly and I hear her sniffling a little. "I knew Adam was there, but when Asher first stormed over I thought he was going to shoot me or something. Even knowing my family is home, and even though I insisted I didn't want to sleep at Eli's I don't feel entirely safe here. Asher was here, he violated the place where I should feel safest. There's this little part of me that worries about him breaking in. What happened this afternoon was so…minor in way, I have a light bruise from where he grabbed me. Yet, the incident continues to replay on this endless loop in the back of my mind. I think it's what's making me feel most crazy. That and those thoughts that are flying through my mind without completely forming."

"I think your mind is trying to wrap around what happened today. Especially, because Asher invaded your space to do it. He may have only grabbed your arm, but in some ways it was worse than him trying to rape you in his car. Your mind is trying to make sense of it, which includes going over every single outcome. It's a lot to handle Clare, and it just adds to the trauma he already put you through. You're not crazy, and you're not going crazy," I assure her. I take a breath before I say this next part, unsure of how she may respond, "Do you want company?"

"Yes," she replies quickly, "but you probably shouldn't come over. I don't think my mom will like it if she finds you here in the morning."

"Can you get out? I could pick you up, we can drive around or go park somewhere, to talk," I add the last part so she doesn't think I'm trying to go make out with her.

"Yeah, that sounds like exactly what I need," she replies and I hear some relief in her voice.

"I'll text you when I'm outside."

"Thanks Drew," she says and hangs up.

I get my shoes on and grab a hoodie, even though I probably won't need it. I grab my wallet and keys before leaving my room. My parents are asleep in bed, but Adam is still up, and I knock softly on his door. Adam opens the door a second later and cocks an eyebrow when he sees me standing there ready to go out.

"Going to see Clare?" Adam asks, really it was more of a statement than a question.

"Stop reading my mind, but yeah she called and she's having trouble. She wants some company, I told her I'd pick her up and we can drive around or something. I don't know when I'll be back, because I'll stay with her as long as she needs me. I might need you to cover for me if I'm not back by morning."

"I will, hug her for me," Adam smiles.

"I will," I reply before turning to leave and Adam closes his bedroom door.

I go quietly down the stairs and out the front door. Mom and Dad's room is on the opposite side of the house, so even if they hear the car starting up they won't know it's my car. It's a cool night, but I don't put my hoodie on, once I have the car heater going I'll be plenty warm. At this hour it takes two minutes to get to Clare's house, and I spend the whole drive debating whether or not to tell her how I feel. I park outside of her house, but I decide to turn off the car and get out, just in case Asher is here he won't get anywhere near her. I stand on her front stoop and get out my phone to text her.

 **Drew: I'm here, waiting at your front door.**

 **Clare: Be right down.**

A few seconds later I see a small figure coming down the dark stairs. She unlocks and opens the interior door first and then the front door.

"Thanks for coming all the way to the front door for me," she smiles. The ambient light from the streetlights and the moon give her face this beautiful glow. I'm pretty sure the stars are sparkling in her eyes, I grin and put my arm around her.

"I didn't think Asher was that stupid, but I figured you'd feel safer if I did."

"Yeah, I wouldn't have felt safe crossing the lawn in the dark."

I open the car door for her and run around to the driver's side. "Will you get in trouble for sneaking out?"

"Jake said he'd cover for me, but Glen never checks on me. If Mom does check on me before she leaves for work Jake is ready with a story."

"Are you thirsty or hungry? We could grab some coffee or something to drink from a 24-hour store and find somewhere to park. Or I can just drive all around Toronto if you prefer?"

"Driving around sounds good, but coffee first," she responds.

I take us to a drive-thru coffee stand near downtown that stays open all night. I pay for both of us and then start driving around randomly, and aimlessly. For a long time Clare is silent, sipping her coffee while I drive around, but I don't want to push her. If she wants to talk she will, if she just wants company then I'm here. After over an hour of driving aimlessly I park at the harbor, we're away from everyone, but we can see the moonlight on the water from here. We both unbuckle our seatbelts and look out at the water, sitting there silently and drinking the last few sips of our now cold coffee.

"I wonder how long it will be before I feel truly safe going out my front door," she says as she shakes her empty coffee cup.

"I imagine when Asher is arrested that will help."

"I hope that happens soon," she says before going quiet again. "Thanks for coming out with me Drew, you didn't have to. I feel bad for dragging you out, waking you up when I call. I hope Bianca doesn't get mad that I was out with you so late."

"Actually, Bianca and I broke up this afternoon."

"I'm sorry Drew. I hope it wasn't because of all the time you've been spending with me."

"That did have something to do with it, but it wasn't the only reason. I don't care about Bianca the way I once did, and she knew it. We're still friends, at least I think so. Turns out she and Dallas like each other."

"How do you feel about that?"

"It'll be weird to see them together at first, but if they're happy then I think I'll get over it pretty quickly. Especially, if this other girl that I care deeply about, and really like, feels the same way about me," I tell her looking her in the eyes. I'm pretty much screaming that the other girl is her without saying it out loud.

Clare bites her lip and gives me this gorgeously soft smile at the same time. My heart skips a beat just looking at her smile. "I do feel the same Drew, I have for a while, but I talked myself out of telling you every time I thought about it. I told myself you were with Bianca and you'd never reciprocate, and I was with Eli, I kept telling myself that I love Eli."

"Yeah," I grin scratching the back of my head, "I told myself pretty much the same things. Denying how I felt even to myself because I didn't think you'd feel the same."

"How could I not? My first instinct has been to call you, just to hear your voice, for weeks. Whether it was something Asher did, that I couldn't sleep or just that I needed a ride. I've been calling you first, rationalizing to myself that Eli was busy, Jake would need his truck, anything to tell myself calling you was the right thing. To spend even just a few extra minutes with you while you drove me to co-op. Even when I was with Eli, being in his arms, but wishing I was in yours," she admits.

I'm so happy I can hardly contain myself any longer, I wrap my arms around her and crush my lips to hers. I feel her lips smile into the kiss, parting for me just a bit, my lips part as well, taking her breath into my mouth. My left hand caresses down her arm, finds her hand and interlaces our fingers. Our lips finally joined after weeks of wanting and longing, dance happily together. It's as much a kiss of joy as it is relief, and we remain locked in it until the need for air overcomes the desire to kiss.

"There's just one little problem," Clare says after a breath. Our fingers are still interlaced and my arm still around her, she leans her head on my arm and I smile again.

"By little problem you mean Eli," I state.

"I want to say it's as easy as breaking up with him, but it's not. Eli's moods and emotions are often…volatile, he doesn't know the way I feel about you, I don't want to harm his friendship with Adam. Just tonight I told him I wanted to spend the night at his house, just not after a night when Asher had attacked me."

"Are you worried that he'll be so angry he stops being friends with you, and Adam? Or are you worried that Eli will hurt you?" I question.

"All of the above, worried that he might hurt you too. I just need to find the right time to break up with him. His behavior tonight scared me a little, and I don't want to set him off," she confesses.

"What do you mean? Did Eli hurt you?" I question feeling my chest get tight at the thought of Eli hurting her.

"No, he just didn't want me to go home. He was very insistent that I stay the night, almost manic about it. He kept saying I'd be safer at his house, and he could protect me, that he had guns at his house. He kept saying that no one else would protect me like he would, except maybe Adam. I finally told him that when I did finally stay the night at his house I wanted it to be on a better night. I didn't really mean it though; I was just saying what he wanted to hear. I also told him if he didn't take me home, I'd call Jake to pick me up. Truth is when I thought about staying the night with a boy at his house it was you that came to mind."

"We can make that happen, although probably not at my house if we're dating. So, what do we do about Eli? Do you want to be with him still?"

She bites her lip and looks at her hand, my stomach drops as I fear the answer that's about to leave her lips.

"When I got back together with Eli it felt right, I felt that old spark, and I do love him. A part of me will probably always feel happy when I think about him. As I imagine you will when thinking about Bianca. I also know that I care about you, that I want to be with you, that I'm almost always thinking about you. I guess there's a part of me that's afraid of breaking up with Eli, and I'm not even sure I can explain it."

"Do you want me to talk to Eli?"

"No," she says quickly looking up at me and shaking her head, "that will probably end with you getting punched."

"Adam could talk to him."

"No, Adam is already deep enough in the middle as it is. I need to talk to Eli, I just need to find a good time, and the right way to say things. I don't want him to get the wrong idea, I don't want him to blame you or think that we've been cheating. I'll call him tomorrow, see how he's feeling," she remarks but her sentence begins to drift to whisper.

"You mean today, it's almost two in the morning now. Do you think you can sleep now? I could take you home," I offer.

"No, I want to be here with you. Do you think we could just sit here while you hold me?"

I smile and tighten my grip on her before kissing her forehead, "As long as you want me to."

We sit there watching the moon and stars on the water, not a word comes from either one of us. Eventually, we fall asleep, both of us waking up as the rising sun reflects on the water.

"I suppose we should get home," Clare sighs.

"Yeah, probably should. What time do your parents usually get up? Mine will be up by the time I get home," I remark.

"Yeah, mine will be up soon too," she nods.

"We could get some breakfast and then I can take you home, it might be easier to sneak in," I comment.

"Breakfast sounds good," she grins.

I reluctantly let go of her and we buckle up again, I start the car and then look for a diner on my phone. I find one that's open, and only because it's an all-night diner. It's pretty empty and they seat us at a booth by the window. We both get more coffee and order breakfast, we both take a long time to eat, not wanting to go home. We hardly say anything over breakfast, we don't talk about us, or Eli or even Adam. Finally, when we can delay no longer I take her home, Glen's truck is gone, but her mom's car is still here, so I hope she won't get into trouble.

"Thanks for everything Drew, I'll call you later," she smiles and leans over to join her lips to mine.

"You want me to walk you to the door?"

"No, I doubt even Asher is here this early, just don't go anywhere until I'm inside."

"I'm walking you to the door," I reply turning off the car.

I walk her to the door and she kisses me again before quietly unlocking her door. When she's in with the door locked I return to the car and drive home. Mom and Dad are definitely awake, and both still home, so I go to the basement door. I tap on it quietly, but when Dallas doesn't open the door after a few seconds I tap a little louder. I hear something now, a second later the curtain is pulled back. Dallas stands there in boxers giving me a look for being outside this early, but he unlocks the sliding glass door to let me in.

"You go sleepwalking out your window? Or you been out all night?" Dallas inquires with a teasing voice.

"All night, Clare couldn't sleep after what happened. If Mom asks I woke up early and came down here," I comment taking off my shoes.

"So, you and Clare a thing yet?" Dallas asks as I hide my shoes where mom won't see them.

"Yeah, well kind of, she still has to break up with Eli," I reply sitting down on the sofa.

"Guess that would be helpful, B and I are dating now. You're not going to deck me now are you?" Dallas questions, though he does sit down next to me.

"No, it's a little weird I guess, but as long as you guys are happy."

Dallas grins and pats my back, he goes back to his room and returns after pulling on some pajama bottoms. I turn on the TV and we watch for a while before Mom peeks down. She makes a comment about how early I must've woken up, but that's about it. Adam sleeps in and about the time he comes down with breakfast I get a text from Clare.

 **Clare: Asher's warrant was issued; they'll arrest him at The Interpreter. My lawyer called, she wants to meet with me and mom. Then Mom is going to drop me off at work.**

 **Drew: Call me after the lawyer?**

 **Clare: I will. I don't suppose you want to pick me up after work?**

 **Drew: Happily. I go in today too.**

 **Clare: Thanks Drew.**

 **Drew: What about Eli?**

 **Clare: I'll talk to him, just maybe not today. I'll call you when we're done with the lawyer.**

I sigh and stick my phone back into my pocket.

"Problem?" Adam asks.

"Not really, Asher's warrant was issued they're going to arrest him at work. Clare's going to meet with her lawyer, then her mom will take her to work. I'll pick Clare up from work after I get off."

"Then why the sigh?" Adam inquires.

"She's not talking to Eli today."

"Then you two talked last night?"

"Yeah, and we want to be together, but she has to break up with Eli first. She keeps saying she will, she just has to find the right time, I just want her to do it, so we can be together."

"She'll do it," Adam assures me, "but last time she broke up with him he crashed his car. I think she's trying to avoid that."

"Right," I nod and lean back on the sofa. While Adam starts explaining to Dallas why Eli went nuts last time Clare broke up with him, I start getting visions of more extreme behavior from him this time.

 **Update soon, picking up from the same day in Clare's pov. Will she talk to Eli? Next story to be updated is** _ **Alone on a School Night.**_


	11. Can't Believe I Ever Fell in Love with Y

**Hello readers; the winner of our poll is** _ **"Tell Me I'm the Only One"**_ **! That is a short story and will therefore go into the short story rotation.**

 **Ch. 11 Can't Believe I Ever Fell in Love with You**

 **(CLARE)**

"I have to run Clare, are you good for the afternoon?" Caitlin asks peeking into the little room where I work.

"Yes, I have plenty to do, I'll see you tomorrow," I smile back at her.

"If you finish before the end of your shift feel free to leave early. You can always make up the time."

"Thanks Caitlin," I reply. It's a nice offer, but I couldn't really leave early anyway, Drew is my ride and he won't be here until the end of his shift.

Caitlin leaves and I go back to work, until my phone alerts me to a text. I expect it to be Drew and smile just at the thought, my smile drops when I see it's from Eli.

 **Eli: I'll pick you up from work, take you to an early dinner and you can tell me how it went at the lawyer.**

 **Clare: You don't have to pick me up, it's not exactly on your way. Drew had to work today too, he said he'd pick me up, the office is on his way home.**

 **Eli: No reason for Drew to pick you up, you're my girlfriend. Besides Asher made bail already, if he tries something I want to be there.**

I swallow hard, I had no idea Asher made bail already. The thought that he could be waiting for me outside sends a shiver up my spine. I don't respond, but Eli sends another text.

 **Eli: I'm leaving in a few minutes, I thought given the circumstances they would let you go a little early.**

 **Clare: Okay.**

It's the only reply I have, my mind has become consumed over the fact that Asher is out on bail. That he might just be waiting to attack me again, and this time Adam won't be there. A loud noise from somewhere else in the studio pulls me from my fear. I realize I better call Drew and tell him that Eli's picking me up.

"Hey Beautiful, are you done already?"

Hearing his voice, hearing him call me beautiful, puts a smile on my lips. My heart fluttering at the thought of Drew, I pull my lower lip into my teeth. Knowing what I have to tell him my smile drops and I release my lower lip with a sigh.

"No, but you don't have to pick me up. Eli's on his way, he insisted on it. Apparently, Asher's out on bail already," I inform him.

"That fucking prick! I haven't seen him back at the office, but I haven't left my desk for most of the day."

"Don't confront him Drew, he's been arrested and I don't want you to get arrested."

"I'll walk out quickly, but I'd rather punch his face in. So, if Eli's picking you up are you going to talk to him?"

"I'll try, if he's already fired up over Asher though…"

"You still sound like you don't want to talk to him. I thought you wanted to be with me?"

"I do Drew, please believe that. I'm just afraid of setting Eli off, I will tell him about us."

"Okay, call me tonight, after your date," Drew says. He barely got out the word date, I could hear how his teeth were clenched.

"I'll talk to him Drew, after everything he's done you can't blame me for being cautious."

"I'm not, I just hate that he's all that's standing in our way now," Drew says and his voice has relaxed.

"I know, me too, but I have to wait until the time is right."

"Yeah, I know, call me tonight."

"I will," I reply before hanging up.

I work for about 15 more minutes, before Eli texts that he's outside. I pack up and leave a note for Caitlin so she knows when I left. Waving to a few people as I leave the building for Eli's car. Eli smirks and kisses me when I get in the car.

"How was work?"

"Good, I really like Caitlin, her whole team is great."

"I'm glad. How was the lawyer this morning?"

"Fine, Dana wants me to write what happened into a new statement. I remembered some other things too, and I'll be revising my earlier statement. I can combine them into one, but Adam's video helps a lot. I'll probably write it up tomorrow after work, she needs it by Monday."

"I'm glad Adam was there with you. He's the only one I trust to protect you as I would," Eli says brushing a curl behind my ear.

I don't know how to reply; this is the behavior that scares me. Possessive almost maniacal, just like when he essentially said he'd shoot Asher. I hate to admit it even to myself, but it's this behavior that keeps me from telling him about Drew. I'm truly worried that Eli will go after Drew.

Eli starts talking about an idea for a movie he has, and wants to start working on. He fills the conversation through dinner, which is fine with me because I don't feel much like talking. Eli takes me home and walks me to my door, there's no sign of Asher thankfully.

"I love you, more than anything in this world Clare, you're my life, my muse," Eli says before giving me a hard kiss goodnight. It's not even really passionate, just hard and possessive.

"I love you too," I reply softly, almost automatically, when he takes his lips away.

I unlock my door and go inside, and all I want is for Drew to kiss me. I lock my front door, waving to Eli as he drives away. Mom and Glen are in the living room, they ask me how work was, Mom asks if I've eaten. I tell them it was fine, and that I ate with Eli, before I go up to my room. Slipping off my shoes, I grab my phone from my purse and lie on my bed to call Drew.

"How was your date?" He questions through clenched teeth again.

"Dinner was fine; Eli did all the talking."

"So, you didn't talk to him then?"

"You didn't hear the way he was talking Drew. I'm afraid if I tell him the wrong way at the wrong time he'll come after you. He's so riled up and on edge with Asher I don't want to set him off."

"You may not go to trial for a year or more, you can't stay with Eli out of fear Clare. That's not good for any of us," Drew admonishes.

"I'm not going to stay with Eli until it goes to trial, but he essentially said he was going to shoot Asher. All this stuff with Asher, it's setting him off, and I don't want you to be a casualty of it."

"Eli's not going to shoot me, he might get angry and try to fight me, but I know I can beat Eli in a fight. If you don't do it soon then I'll tell Eli myself, then I'll take him down real fast with my MMA moves."

"Andrew, that's not funny."

"I wasn't joking," Drew replies flippantly.

"I don't want you fighting at all, you've had too many concussions as it is. Last time I broke up with Eli he crashed a car and hurt himself, I don't want that to happen either. You don't hear him Drew, it has me worried, I'm just trying to keep anyone from getting hurt. I have to work on my statement tomorrow, get it written up for Dana. Saturday, I'll ask Eli to come over so we can talk, I'll tell him then. Right now he's stewing and seriously overprotective because Asher's out on bail."

"Overprotective or possessive?" Drew asks.

"Both."

"You're worried about him coming after me, but you plan to talk to him alone at your house?"

"He won't hurt me, I don't think. He's never tried to before, he tries to hurt himself, like crashing his car, lighting the script on fire."

"Did he not try and hurt Jake when Jake was building sets for that crazy play?"

"I'll be okay, if it's early enough Jake will be home if I need him, but I don't think Eli will try and hurt me."

"I think I should be there."

"So, he can punch you? It's better if I do it alone."

"And if he's still angry about Asher? Are you going to chicken out again?" Drew questions with venom laced in his tone.

"That isn't fair. I don't want to fight about this," I reply just as sharply and hang up on him.

As soon as I hang up on him I feel bad, I didn't want to fight. I didn't mean to get into an argument over Eli and breaking up with him. I wanted to hear Drew's voice, I wanted him to be here with me. He might not answer if I call, and I wouldn't exactly blame him, so I text him instead.

 **Clare: After Eli kissed me at my door all I wanted was to be in your arms, kissing your lips.**

 **Drew: I could come over and hold you and kiss you.** He adds a winking kiss emoji.

 **Clare: Not with everyone here. They don't know how I feel about you. I really do want to kiss you though.**

 **Drew: The offer still stands, I'll happily come over and kiss you.**

 **Clare: Soon. Very soon.** I add a kissing lips emoji.

Drew replies with a smile emoji and I set my phone done. I smile biting my lip, and think happily about kissing Drew. I take a shower and think of Drew, and then watch a couple movies on my laptop before going to bed. With all the thinking I was doing about Drew you'd think he would be in my dreams. Instead I have a truly horrific nightmare involving Asher.

I wake with a gasp, my eyes flooded with tears that won't stop, I'm shaking, and in a cold sweat. Most of all I'm terrified, in the darkness of my room I feel as though Asher is still here. That he somehow followed me out of the dream and is about to attack once more. The only thing I want is for Drew to be here, holding me, to be wrapped in his arms, hearing his heartbeat, feeling his breaths across my skin. I turn on my light, to assure myself that Asher is not in the room, then grab my phone from my nightstand.

"What's wrong?" Drew yawns.

"I…I…" I'm still crying so hard I can't even get a word out.

"Clare what is it?" Drew asks, sounding far more alert now.

I sniffle in some tears and take a deep breath, trying to speak. "B…bad…dr…dream," I stutter through my tears and short breaths.

"Must've been really bad, you're safe now. Do you want me to tell you more sports stories?"

"I…want…you…with me," I manage between heavy sobs.

"I'll take the car and sneak over. I'll text you when I'm downstairs, we can drive around again if you want."

"Okay," I whisper into the phone.

I text Jake that I had a bad dream and I'm out with Drew, make it look like I'm still sleeping, just in case Mom checks on me. Then I slip on ballet flats, and a sweater. I don't even get dressed, I just want Drew to be here. I turn off my light and then turn on the hall light, keeping it on until I'm downstairs, and then the kitchen light goes on. The porch light is already on, and I sit peeking out the window waiting for Drew. I finally feel safe when I see his car, he gets out and starts walking to the door. I go to the front door, unlock and open it, and throw myself into his arms.

"It's okay, you're safe I've got you," Drew assures me hugging me tightly.

"Can we drive around again?" I request.

"Anything you want," he says kissing my temple softly.

I lock the door with the spare key and Drew puts his arm around me to walk to his car. I don't have my phone or purse or anything, but all I need right now is Drew. He opens the passenger door for me before going around to the driver's side.

"I think you need some water, there's an all-night drive-thru nearby. Then I can park near the harbor again," Drew offers. I nod sniffling my tears again, Drew reaches over and takes my hand interlacing our fingers. "You're safe Clare, I've got you," he assures me again.

"I know; it was just a really awful dream. I didn't really feel safe until I was in your arms."

Drew smiles and kisses the back of my hand. When we get to the drive-thru he orders us each a pop and then gets a large ice water and fries to share. He drives out to a lookout spot near the harbor where we can watch the water.

"Tell me about the dream," he urges when I remain silent.

"Asher, he was waiting for me again, in my house this time. No one else was home and he was waiting in the dark of my room, he grabbed me and shook me. He was yelling at me for pressing charges, he started to strangle me and I tried to scream, but I couldn't. I tried to call for you, I couldn't even breathe, then he raped me and cut me open as he was doing it. He was still raping me as I was slowly bleeding out, that's when I woke up," I tell him taking a deep breath. I've started tearing up just thinking about the dream again, how terrified I was, how very real it felt. "I could feel my life draining away, I felt so alone and scared, I could feel the blood running down my side and I could feel him…" I bite my lip not wanting to say I could feel the stabbing pain of him raping me.

Drew reaches over wiping some tears from my cheeks, and places a soft kiss on my lips. "I will never let Asher touch you again. If I have to come into your house with you every night to make sure he's not there, then I will."

I nod and give him a smile, but the dream is still fresh on my mind. I can feel it all again, as though I were still trapped in the dream. I move as close to him as I can, holding tightly to his arm.

"The problem with driving around is that you can't hold me very well," I complain.

"Hang on, I have an idea," Drew says.

He pops the trunk as he gets out of the car, I watch him walk around to the trunk. I panic for a moment when the open trunk blocks my view of him. He takes something out and then comes around opening my door. He holds his hand out and I take it, getting out of the car. He helps me onto the hood of the car, gets on leaning against the windshield, holds his arm out and I cuddle up to him. Then he puts the blanket over us, this is much better, I'm far more comfortable and I'm in his arms.

"Do you think it was Asher being out on bail that prompted the dream?"

"Yeah, and having to think about it all when telling Dana about Asher's ambush at my house. I think even my dinner with Eli and my fear that our breakup will cause him to retaliate."

"I won't let Eli hurt you either, or me," Drew assures me kissing my temple.

"Thanks for coming when I needed you Drew, thanks for always coming when I need you."

"I always will Clare," he says holding me a little tighter.

For a while I sit there watching the stars, the moon, the water. I feel safe now in Drew's arms, warm against his body, soothed by the sounds of his heart. After some time, I drop off to sleep, waking up a little before dawn by a car alarm going off in the distance. It startles us both awake, Drew's eyes blink open and then he smiles at me. I tip my head up and steal his lips for a quick kiss.

"I should probably get you home, and get home myself," Drew yawns.

"Yeah, probably," I reply with a yawn.

Drew slides off the trunk, and helps me off the car, he tosses the blanket in the backseat of the car as we get in. He drives me home, walks me to the door, and gives me a soft and tender kiss. I go inside, lock my door and watch until Drew is in his car and driving away. When he's out of sight I go upstairs, and get in bed, my sweater smells like Drew now and it makes me smile. I fall asleep again, remembering the wonderful feeling of being in Drew's arms.

I wake up in the early afternoon, when my alarm goes off, because I have to be at work in a couple of hours. I yawn and stretch, get up and shuffle into the washroom. After using it I turn on the shower, it feels very nice and I think of Drew the whole time. I get out of the shower, dry off and get dressed before going downstairs to get some breakfast. Jake and Mo are down here smoking pot.

"Did you get some sleep?" Jake asks.

"Yes, I did," I smile.

"Guess, Drew made you feel better," Jake remarks and sort of snickers.

"Oooooooh," Mo says like I'm in trouble.

"He always does," I reply with a smile.

They go back to laughing at whatever ridiculous thing they're watching on TV. I take my breakfast upstairs and eat while picking out clothes for today. After I eat and take my plate downstairs to the dishwasher I tell Jake I'm taking the truck to co-op. He just nods and starts laughing again, at what I have no idea. I grab my purse, slip on some shoes and drive to co-op. Caitlin is on location, but left a long list of things for me to do, I'm kept really busy and it makes the afternoon go by fast.

When I get home Jake and Mo are still watching TV, but the house doesn't smell like pot. They seem to be coming down, and Jake says there's some pizza on the table if I'm hungry, and that our parents went out to eat. I take a slice of pizza and go upstairs, deciding I need to work on the statements my lawyer needs from me. I sit at my desk and open my laptop, I start with revising my original statement to include the things I remembered. Then I begin to write out Asher's ambush on Wednesday, I've just started on it when the doorbell rings. I hear it, but I'm not really paying attention and I let Jake deal with it. A moment later I hear heavy footsteps running up the stairs, then my door opens and I look over my shoulder to see Eli standing there.

"You can't be doing homework, it's our last official day of break, we go back to school on Monday. Let's go out and have some fun, you deserve some fun. I got invited to this great party," Eli says coming over and snatches my lips before I can respond.

"I can't Eli, I have to get this to my lawyer."

"Oh, come on, you have all weekend to work on that. Let's go out and party," he replies tugging at my arm.

"Eli, I don't feel like partying, I want to get this done and over with and to my lawyer today. It's all fresh on my mind, I'm not in much of a partying mood."

"I just want to go out and have some fun with my girlfriend, is that so wrong?" He asks with a pout and his green eyes sadly begging.

"No Eli, of course not, but I'm not in the mood and I have something to do. Tomorrow night, we can celebrate that we got this done," I tell him. While in my head I'm thinking _"And, I can break up with you and go celebrate that with Drew."_ "Why don't you take Jake and Mo to this party, I'm sure they'd like it and I could use the peace and quiet to work on this."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, go have a guy's night. Have some fun," I assert.

Eli grins, stealing my lips for another kiss before he goes down the stairs. I hear muffled conversation then some hooting and yelling about a party. They call goodbye as the leave and finally the house is quiet. I finish with the statement about an hour after they leave, and e-mail it to Dana, feeling like I accomplished something good I reward myself with some rocky road ice cream. Which is what I'm eating when my parents get home. We talk for a few minutes, I tell them Jake is out with Mo and Eli, and I'm sure they'll be home by curfew. I'm actually almost positive they will not be home by curfew, but I'm sure they'll be fine. Mom and Glen say goodnight and go up to their room. I stay in the living room watching a movie, and am very surprised when Jake and Mo come in just after eleven. Jake's curfew isn't even until one so I'm shocked to see them home so early.

"Did you drop Eli at home?" I ask Jake noticing that Eli is not with them.

"Actually, we couldn't find Eli," Jake admits looking away from me.

"What do you mean you couldn't find him?"

"Well, last time we saw him he was with some girl and she kissed him, after that he disappeared."

"WHAT?" I exclaim angrily.

"I think she was passing him a drug, on her tongue," Jake informs me.

Worried that he's having a bad reaction or overdosed, I grab my phone and call Eli, when his phone picks up it tells me all I need to know. I growl in irate fury and run upstairs to get my purse, then I run back down and slip on my shoes.

"Clare, where are you going?" Jake inquires.

"Drew's, and I'm taking the truck."

 **(DREW)**

When my phone rang just before 11:30 I knew it would be Clare, and I pick up without even looking at the display. Holding it to my ear as I continue playing video games. Adam was out with Maya, Dallas was out with Bianca, though he'd have to be home soon with her curfew.

"Hey Gorgeous? Another nightmare or you can't get to sleep without my boring sports stories?"

"I'm outside," she replies.

"What do you mean you're outside?"

"I'm at the sliding glass door," she tells me. I pause the game and jump up unlocking and opening the sliding glass door. She steps inside and I wrap her in my arms.

"After the dream you had last night you're alone in the dark? Tell me you didn't walk over here?"

"I took the truck, and your porch light is on, besides Asher doesn't know where your house is. Eli cheated on me! I know that sounds somewhat hypocritical seeing as we've kissed, but from what I heard they did not have all of their clothes on. I just wanted to be here, with you, and now I'm going to break up with him."

"I'm glad you're here, but didn't you think it was dangerous with Asher out on bail?" I scold her as I lock the door again.

"No, I wasn't thinking, I just wanted to be in your arms," she says taking my hand and pulling me to the sofa. She sits down and I put my arm around her. She gets out her phone and sends a text to Eli.

 **Clare: I know you cheated on me. We're done Eli. I should have done this days ago. I have feelings for someone else. GOODBYE ELI.**

She sends the text and turns off her phone. Curling her knees onto the sofa and putting her arm around me, her head on my chest.

"What can I do?" I ask rubbing her arm gently.

"You are doing it, just be with me," she replies.

She turns her head up to look at me, her eyes glossed by tears, but a wonderful smile on her lips lighting up her beautiful face. I brush a curl behind her ear, combing my fingers into her hair and overtaking her lips with mine. She moves her hand up, gripping the back of my neck, and her lips part just slightly. I lick her bottom lip requesting access and she grants it, her lips opening even more and allowing my tongue in. My tongue wraps around hers, caressing it gently. I want to kiss every inch of her wonderfully soft porcelain skin, for now I settle for pulling her into my lap and holding her close. I would stay like this all night, but we get interrupted when I get smacked in the back of the head with a throw pillow.

"Stop making out with my best friend," Adam gripes.

"Hey, making out with my girlfriend," I tell him though I do release Clare a little and set her on the sofa next to me.

"So, you finally broke up with Eli?" Adam questions leaping over the back of the sofa and sitting on the other side of Clare.

"I was planning to do it tomorrow when we could talk. He came over wanting to go to a party, I was working on my statement and told him I couldn't. I told him to go with Jake and Mo instead, and they went. A short time ago Jake and Mo returned without Eli. They told me he kissed another girl, they think she kissed a drug onto his tongue, and he disappeared with her. I was worried that he overdosed, or the drug was reacting badly with his medication. I called him and heard him…well I guarantee he didn't have all his clothes on. Then I came over here, and after feeling much better being in Drew's arms," she says smiling at me. I grin, kiss her temple and hold her a little tighter. "I sent Eli a breakup text. I didn't want to do it that way but I didn't want to call him again."

"I can't believe Eli cheated on you, sadly I can believe he took drugs. I hope they don't mess with his medication," Adam says.

"I want to be here, I don't want to go home, I don't want Eli to find me there tomorrow. I don't want to leave your arms," she says looking up at me with these sad hopeful eyes.

"Can't believe I'm saying this, but I think we can hide you in Drew's room tonight. Mom and Dad will be in bed soon, and they'll be out pretty early tomorrow. You two can tell them you're dating tomorrow," Adam comments and I grin.

"I'm going to enjoy sleeping with you in my arms all night," I smile and kiss Clare's forehead.

"I really hope all you do is sleep," Adam remarks and Clare giggles. "If it's not you're sleeping on my floor," Adam tells me and Clare laughs again.

"I can't sleep yet, let's watch a movie or something. At least, until Dallas gets home and wants the basement," Clare requests.

I turn off the video game, Adam puts on a movie, and Clare cuddles into me. We're about halfway through the movie when Dallas comes home.

"Hey kids, what's going on?" Dallas asks as he comes downs the stairs.

"We're going to hide Clare here tonight; she broke up with Eli when she found he was cheating on her," I inform Dallas.

"So, you guys are official now?" Dallas asks, sitting down to watch the movie.

"Yes, we are official now," I grin and snatch Clare's lips for a quick kiss.

"Cool," he grins.

He finishes the movie with us and we decide to go to bed. Adam gives Clare one of the extra toothbrushes we have, and she goes into the washroom to brush her teeth.

"You know, Eli is going to get her text at tonight or tomorrow and call me," Adam comments while Clare's in the washroom.

"Yeah, I know, he may even come here looking for Clare, or me. She didn't say anything about me in the text, but Eli might figure it out."

"We could go out tomorrow, avoid him for as long as possible. We'll have to see him Monday though."

"It's probably a good idea to go out for a while, Clare can stay for dinner and we'll tell Mom and Dad we're dating. After dinner I'll take her home and we can tell her family, or at least her parents, Jake might not be home."

Adam nods and turns to leaves my room, then turns back, "Sleep in your clothes."

I grimace and throw a pillow at him as he ducks through my doorway. Clare comes to my room after a couple of minutes, biting her lip, rolling it between her teeth, so I know she's nervous.

"I'll sleep on the floor of Adam's room if that will make you more comfortable," I tell her.

"No," she smiles, "it's not that. I'm just worried about how Eli react when he sees the text."

"He won't be happy; no one could be happy losing you. But, he'll have to deal with it," I tell her.

"I know, I'm more worried about him trying to hurt himself or you."

"He won't hurt me, and hopefully he's stable enough not to hurt himself now."

"I'm going to go brush my teeth, help yourself to anything in my dresser to sleep in," I tell Clare. I kiss her forehead and close the door as I leave my bedroom. When I return to my room she's snuggled up in the bed, I can see she's in one of my t-shirts. I undress and pull on a pair of pajama bottoms. More than I usually sleep in, but I don't want to make her uncomfortable.

"Will you tell me some sports stories? I'm not tired," Clare requests when I get into bed. I see that she's also wearing a pair of my sweat shorts.

"Of course," I smile turning off my bedside light.

"Drew," she says looking up at me with her gorgeous blue eyes, "I'm very happy we're together now."

"Me too, I've been longing to hold you like this and call you mine for a very long time now," I grin attaching my lips to hers for a tenderly passionate kiss.

 **Aww, feel the Clew love! Update soon picking up the next day with Eli's reaction and the parents finding out Clew is dating. Next story to be updated is** _ **"In No Particular City."**_


	12. Full of Hope & Pain

**Hope everyone enjoyed the short story premier of** ** _"Tell Me I'm the Only One"._**

 **Ch. 12 Full of Hope & Pain**

 **(DREW)**

I wake up to Clare's curls tickling my nose. I move her hair aside and kiss the back of her neck.

"Mmmmorning," she yawns kissing my arm that is still holding her.

"Morning, Adam and I were talking last night, and we thought we'd spend the day out. We figure when Eli gets up and sees your text this will be the first place he comes. We can have dinner here tonight and tell my parents we're dating. Then when I take you home, well, when Adam and I take you home we can tell your parents."

"Yeah that's a good idea," she says stretching out for her phone. She clicks it on and we see that it's just after nine. "I don't know when Eli will wake up, so we should probably leave soon, but what about your parents?"

"They're out already, running errands," I assure her and kiss her earlobe gently.

"We should go then, and drop the truck off at my house for Jake. I'll get dressed and wake up Adam. He should come with us or he'll be dealing with Eli all alone."

"The plan was for Adam to come with us, but I'll wake him up. He wouldn't like it if you woke him up," I tell her placing one last kiss on her temple before I get out of bed.

"Why can't I wake Adam up?" She asks sitting up and pouting a little.

"He sleeps in boxers and a tank undershirt, you'll see that he still has…"

"Breasts? Adam's worried that I'll see he's still in a girl's body?"

"Not just you," I respond pulling on a pair of jeans, "why do you think he wears a compression vest and at least two layers at school?"

"But, he's my best friend, I know he's a guy, I only see him as a guy."

"Clare, he even wears his compression vest around the house, it's not just you. He doesn't even like Mom to wake him up, don't take it personally. He loves you, you're his best friend, it's just hard for him being in the body he's in. You get dressed and start getting ready, I'll wake up Adam and take us to breakfast," I tell her. She's still pouting a little, but she gets out of bed as I leave the room. I knock on Adam's door, but we're both pretty heavy sleepers, so when I don't hear anything I open the door and go in. "Adam it's a little after nine we should probably get going to avoid Eli," I say shaking my brother's arms.

"I'm up," he yawns sitting up and scratching his head.

"Clare's getting ready, she wanted to come wake you up, but I told her I'd better do it. I explained, but she was still upset," I tell him and he scrunches his face.

"I don't want her to see me like this," he sighs.

"I told her that, she says she only sees you as a guy. I'm only telling you because she was pretty upset by it. I think she's in the washroom now, but she should be out in a minute. I'll get dressed and tell Dallas we're leaving, give him the option of coming with us so he's not facing Eli's wrath alone if Eli comes by," I comment before leaving Adam's room.

I return to my room and put on a t-shirt and then get my socks and shoes on. Adam will take the longest in the washroom, so when Clare comes back to my room I go into the washroom. I leave the door open as I'm just putting on deodorant and fixing my hair real quick. I don't even shave, I'm a little scratchy, but it'll be okay. Adam comes into the washroom just as I'm finishing and closes the door when I leave. I'm sure he'll lock the door, I go into my room where Clare is gathering her purse and getting her shoes on.

"I'm going to tell Dallas we're leaving, give him the option of coming with us. Adam is getting ready in the washroom; he'll be out in a few minutes," I tell Clare while grabbing my wallet, keys and jacket.

"I'm ready, since I don't have makeup here," she says.

"You don't need makeup," I reply snatching her lips for a kiss.

Clare left her house yesterday without a coat, so I grab my football jacket for her to wear. It kind of swallows her, so I also grab one of Adam's hoodie's for her. She comes with me downstairs, but waits in the living room while I go down to the basement to wake up Dallas.

"Coming in," I call knocking on the wall near his room. He opens his eyes and looks at me, yawning and blinking his eyes as he tries to wake up.

"Dude, what time is it?"

"Almost 9:30, the rest of us are going out for the day. Whenever Eli gets up he'll see Clare's text and he'll probably come here, looking for her or Adam. We're going to avoid him and return for dinner to tell Mom and Dad we're dating. She didn't tell him she was breaking up with him for me, but he may figure it out. Anyway, we'd rather just not be here, and you probably don't want to be here either. You're welcome to join us, no plan really, just avoiding Eli."

"I'll head out too, but I think I'll see what Bianca's up to," Dallas yawns stretching again. "I'll probably take her to dinner too, so you can have a family dinner, plus Clare."

"Cool," I grin turning to go upstairs again.

Clare is sitting on the arm of the sofa and Adam comes downstairs ready to go. Clare drives the truck and we follow in my car. She parks outside of her house, locks the truck and Adam gets in the backseat, so she can have the passenger sea. When Clare gets in my car she sends a text to Jake as I begin driving. In an effort to avoid Eli I drive until we're completely out of our neighborhood and then Adam looks up a place to have breakfast.

"So, what should we do today?" Adam questions after we've ordered.

"Something Eli wouldn't do, and somewhere he wouldn't think to look for us," Clare says.

"We could see what movies are playing, or…" my sentence trails off as I try and think of something the three of us can do and Eli wouldn't want to do.

"Mini golf?" Clare questions looking at Adam, "I doubt he'd think to look there."

"Good idea, and some of the courses have arcades and serve food, that should kill a few hours," Adam nods.

"Breakfast and then mini golf it is then," I grin just as Clare's phone rings. She takes it from her purse and grimaces so I know it's Eli. Clare ignores the call and he calls back, and she ignores it again. A few seconds after she ignores the call Adam's phone rings and Clare bites her lip.

"I'll be right back," Adam says sliding out of the booth.

"I should warn Jake that Eli might be by," Clare says when Adam is outside. She unlocks her phone again and sends a text to Jake.

 **Clare: I broke up with Eli by text last night. I'm spending the day with Drew and Adam to avoid him, but he might come by the house. Considering he took drugs, and I don't think he took his medication I don't have any idea what state of mind or mood he'll be in, so be careful. I'll have dinner at Adam's tonight and they'll bring me home after.**

She sends the text and then puts her phone back in her purse without waiting for a reply. Adam comes back in and sits down as the waitress brings our coffee, we all reach for the cream and sugar to start mixing it in our coffee.

"I'm sorry you're in the middle of this Adam," Clare apologizes as she stirs four sugar packets into her coffee.

"It's my two best friends and my brother there's no way for me to not be in the middle. It's not your fault Clare," Adam assures her.

"I still don't like putting you in the middle, what did Eli say?"

"He was angry, said he was sorry and swore nothing happened. I told him it was too late and you'd already moved on, he wanted to know with whom? I didn't say anything, but he asked if it was Drew. I didn't answer and he hung up," Adam tells her and she bites her lip. "We're spending the day out, and I didn't tell him we were together. It'll be fine," Adam says although he doesn't entirely sound like he believes it himself.

"You want to call Maya? See if she can hang with us today?" I offer.

"She's got family stuff today, it's fine. I'm hanging out with two of my favorite people in the world, and I don't feel like a third wheel. Just don't start making out in front of me," Adam comments and Clare giggles.

We eat breakfast and then find a mini golf place in Mississauga. We decide it's better just to not be anywhere close to our neighborhood all day. We play two rounds of golf and then spend three hours in the arcade, including eating lunch. When we're done it's almost five and we head home, Mom usually has dinner on the table by six. Adam already texted Mom asking if Clare could stay for dinner.

"Dallas is out with Bianca, so it's just the five of us tonight. Please set the table boys," Mom says as soon as we walk in.

"Yes Ma'am," I nod.

I told Mom and Dad that Bianca and I broke up amicably and that she liked Dallas now. I knew they'd find out at some point, and they'd ask questions. I told them I was fine with it and I had been falling for someone else, I just didn't tell them it was Clare.

Clare helps Adam and I set the table, so we have it done before dinner is ready. We serve ourselves and sit down, everyone starts eating and Clare compliments Mom on the dinner.

"So, what did you kids do today?" Mom questions.

"Avoided Eli," I comment and Adam kicks my leg under the table.

"Whatever for?" Mom questions.

"I broke up with him last night, via text. Text is not the way I wanted to do it, but he took drugs and cheated on me. I was going to have him over and talk to him today, tell him face to face that I was falling for someone else. When I found out that he'd taken drugs and cheated on me I just didn't want to be with him another minute. I knew he wouldn't take it well and we knew he'd eventually show up here, so we decided just to be away from the house and avoid him."

"Remember how I said I was okay with Bianca and Dallas because I was falling for another girl? Well, that girl is Clare, and she was falling for me too, so we're dating now," I inform my parents.

"Oh, when did you two fall for each other?" Mom asks.

"Not sure exactly, but Drew's been there for me through everything with Asher. Picking me up after Asher kissed me and tried to assault me in his car. Staying on the phone with me late into the night when I couldn't sleep. We were afraid the other one didn't reciprocate our feelings and we were both in relationships, so neither one of us said anything. We spent a lot of time together though, and always seemed to be finding excuses to spend more time together. When we finally confessed our feelings I was afraid to just break things off with Eli. His behavior and moods have been erratic, especially with all the stuff around Asher, he's been possessive and I was afraid of setting him off. So, I was going to talk to him alone, but I guess Eli made the decision for me."

"I'm sorry about Eli Clare, and I can't say I'm that surprised that you and Drew developed feelings for each other. You have been spending a lot of time together, and I never thought you and Bianca were a good couple," Mom remarks.

"Mom! She's still dating Dallas you know, it's not as though she's out of my life," I remind her.

"I like Bianca Honey, she's been through a lot and come through it all. She's been working really hard this last year to clean up her grades. I just never thought she was a good match for you."

"Have you told your family yet Clare?" Dad asks.

"No, we'll take her home after dinner and tell them then," Adam says for us.

"Yeah, what he said," I nod.

"So, any big plans for your last day before going back to school?" Dad questions.

None of us have plans tomorrow and then Mom and Dad start talking about the friends they had lunch with today. We help clean up after dinner and Clare gets her stuff, thanks my parents for dinner and says goodnight. The three of us go out to my car to take her home and tell her parents we're dating.

 **(CLARE)**

"You okay?" Drew inquires with concern and a little fear in his tone. "You look worried, do your parents not like me?" He asks removing one hand from the steering wheel to reach over and take my hand.

"No, it isn't that. My parents do like you, I'm not worried about telling my family, I'm sure Jake's already figured it out. I'm just…thinking," I reply squeezing Drew's hand and looking out the window again.

"That's Clare speak for she has too much on her mind and can't put it into words just yet," Adam speaks up from the backseat.

"Thanks little bro, wish all my girlfriends came with a translator, my relationships may have lasted longer," Drew comments and I giggle.

Drew parks outside my house, we get out and they follow me to the front door. Mom saw us park as she was washing dishes, the exterior door is unlocked as usual and I unlock the interior door. Jake must be in his room, but I'm pretty sure he knows I had feelings for Drew.

"Hi kids, how was dinner at Adam's?" Mom questions.

"It was good, we told Drew's parents that we're dating," I announce.

"Jake told us you broke up with Eli," Mom comments slowly. I can see that she has another question, something she wants to ask. Either doesn't want to ask in front of Adam and Drew, or something she's not sure how to phrase tactfully just yet.

"I was planning to break up with him today, talk to him and explain that I had feelings for Drew. Then Eli took drugs and cheated on me, so I broke up with him last night, by text instead."

"That's why you spent the night at Alli's last night and went out so late," Mom remarks.

"Yep," I nod, thankful that Jake covered for me. "I'm going to walk Drew and Adam to the door."

"Drew, perhaps you could join us for dinner this week? Adam, you're welcome to come as well," Mom remarks as we turn around.

"Thanks Mrs. Martin we'll be happy too," Adam replies for the both of them and Mom smiles.

"I have family stuff tomorrow, I don't know if Eli will try and come over, but be careful," I warn them both.

"We'll be fine, I'll call you later," Drew says brushing his fingers into my hair and placing a soft kiss on my lips.

I hug Adam, watch them get into their car and I go back inside, locking the interior door. I want to take a shower tonight, so I don't have to get up and do it in the morning. Before I do that though I knock on Jake's door, he opens the door and when he sees me holds his door open so I can come in his room.

"Thanks for covering for me last night," I smile leaning on his desk.

"No problem, so are you and Drew official yet?"

"Yeah, as soon as I broke up with Eli. He called Adam pretty upset this morning, and I think he surmised I broke up with him for Drew. Did Eli call or come by the house at all?"

"Not that I saw, but I was out most of the day. He didn't call or text me, should I be worried?"

"Given his recent behavior I just don't know. I'm going to take a shower; do you need the washroom at all?" I inquire.

Jake shakes his head, I leave his room and go into mine. I set down my purse, slip off my shoes, grab my bathrobe and then go into the washroom turning on the shower. At first, all I can think about is Eli, but then my mind drifts to Drew and I smile. I'm still wearing the smile when I get out of the shower, drying off and wrapping up in my bathrobe before I go across to my room. It's dark now and I turn on my light, walking to my window to close the curtain. When I get to the window I hear something in the tree and think I see something moving. With it so dark outside and the light on in my room it's hard to tell though. I close my curtain quickly and go back to Jake's room knocking on the door once again.

"What's wrong?" Jake inquires letting me in.

"I'm probably just being paranoid, but I thought I heard something in the tree out back, and thought I saw movement when I was closing my curtain."

"Stay here, I'll go check," Jake tells me.

"By yourself?"

"I'm sure it's nothing," he says grabbing his jacket. I'm sure it's Eli, which doesn't make me feel any better about Jake checking by himself. He leaves his room closing his door behind him. I pace the room nervously until he returns. "Someone ran off through the front when I opened the door. I followed, but lost them on the street, someone small though, I think maybe Eli."

"That's what I was afraid of," I sigh.

"Lock your window tonight. I'll make sure all the doors are locked. I could just take you back to Drew's tonight, I'm sure he'll protect you all night," Jake grins.

"As nice as sleeping in Drew's arms again sounds, we'd have to sneak me out of here into their house. Then sneak me back out before church tomorrow, I'll lock my window, anyway Eli was probably scared off."

Jake leaves his room with me, but he goes downstairs to see if all the doors are locked. I go into my room and turn on my laptop, I put on a movie to try and get my mind off Eli. It doesn't work that well, and I'm happy to see Drew's name flash on my phone when he calls me.

"Hi, I wish you were here with me."

"Just missing me? Or is something wrong?" Drew questions.

"Both, I'm pretty sure Eli was outside my window earlier. Jake went out and chased off whoever it was, but now I can't sleep. It's not like I didn't have enough trouble sleeping."

"So, Eli's stalking you now," Drew says and I know he's clenching his teeth.

"We don't know for sure that it was Eli, I didn't really see him and Jake didn't get a good enough look. My whole family is home, my window is locked, the doors. I don't think Eli will break in, I just can't sleep. Not that I was sleeping that well before."

"You always sleep well with me," Drew says.

"I sleep wonderfully when I'm safely enveloped in your arms."

"You want me to come over?"

"Yes, but you shouldn't. We'd have to sneak you in, then out again in the morning. Adam would have to cover for you, Jake already offered to take me to your place. I'll be okay tonight; I just need more boring sports stories to put me to sleep."

"Settle in then, I have plenty of boring sports stories still."

Drew starts telling me sports stories, I interrupt him a lot to ask questions. We fall asleep together on the phone, both waking up when my mom knocks on the door. I tell Drew I'll call him later and we hang up. It's a pretty quiet day, church, lunch with the family, errands, chores and no sign of Eli. Jake still checks the yard before bed, and makes sure the house is locked up tight again. Drew calls as I'm getting ready for bed and tells me stories until I fall asleep. He must hang up, because I'm not on the phone with him the next morning.

"So, last night was quiet?" Jake asks as we drive to school.

"Yeah, I fell asleep on the phone with Drew."

"Are you working after school?"

"Not sure, but if I am I'm sure Drew will take me and pick me up, but I'll need the truck to get there this morning."

Jake parks at school, we grab our backpacks, walking in together, but parting when we go inside. I walk to my locker and open it, I take my purse out of my backpack and set my backpack in the locker. I really only need my purse for co-op, and I hate lugging my backpack around when I don't need it. I close my locker intending to go find Drew, but when I turn around I'm startled by Eli standing there.

"You broke up with me for Drew," Eli growls.

"You took drugs and cheated on me Eli, my feelings for Drew have been developing for a while. Now if you'll excuse me I need to get to co-op," I tell him trying to walk past him.

"Don't walk away from me, you're mine," Eli seethes grabbing my arm. He pulls me back and squeezes my arm tightly.

"Ow," I yelp, "Eli let go of me," I assert as my eyes become crowded by tears. Tears of pain, tears of fear. There's a hallway full of students, but most of them just stand there watching.

"You can't just br…"

"Let her go Dr. Doom, NOW," Bianca snaps at him coming over.

"You heard her Eli, let Clare go before I break your face," Owen warns him.

"You want to fight me you homophobic jock cretin?" Eli challenges, but does let go of my arm.

"Go to co-op Clare," Owen orders. I give him and Bianca a grateful look and start walking away quickly.

"WE'RE NOT DONE CLARE," Eli yells after me.

I turn back to see Owen holding Eli by the shoulder, Owen shoves him away a little and I start walking faster. I get out to the truck, I'm shaking slightly and absentmindedly rubbing my upper arm where Eli squeezed. I'm wearing a denim jacket, and I remove my arm from my jacket to get a look. A bruise is already forming; I release a breath I didn't realize I was holding, biting my lip as I do so. I put my arm back in my jacket, it will hide the bruise while I'm at work. I'll probably just wear my jacket all day, to keep anyone else from seeing the bruise.

I check in at co-op, Caitlin is out, but she left work for me to do, instructions and asked if I could come in this afternoon. I sit down and start working, however the scene with Eli this morning, and thinking he was in my yard last night keeps going through my mind. Without really thinking about it I take off my jacket and set it down. I'm really only half working, mostly thinking about Eli. I am getting work done, just at a much slower pace than I normally do. I'm also caught in my head, almost like I've created a bubble that I'm in, I can hardly even hear what's going on in the rest of the office.

"Clare," Caitlin says putting her hand on my shoulder. I jump and blink at her, she's giving me a worried look and I wonder how many times she called my name before I reacted. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry, I know I'm going slow, I'll speed up, and I'll come in this afternoon."

"Something's clearly on your mind, what is it? And, what happened to your arm?"

 **(DREW)**

"Hey," Owen nods to me coming into class, "Eli went psycho on your girl just now."

"Where's Clare? Is she okay?" I question.

"Bianca and I stopped him, Clare's on her way to co-op now. When were you going to tell me you two were dating?"

"She officially broke up with him Friday night and we officially became official. She was worried about telling Eli, she thinks he was in her yard last night."

"Eli is a fucking psycho, I don't know what Clare ever saw in him," Bianca remarks as she walks in.

"So, Eli really did attack her in the hall?" Katie questions.

"He grabbed her arm, yelling at her for leaving him for Drew," Owen tells them.

The bell rings and we drop the subject of Eli, I'm worried though and I want to text Clare. When the teacher isn't looking I send a quick one asking if she's okay. I wait for an answer, but don't get one, she doesn't reply at all. Owen said she was leaving for co-op, I'm hoping she's just not looking at her phone and that's why she didn't answer. My next class is math, which I have with Eli, I rush to that classroom as soon as the bell rings. I don't go in yet; I wait at the door for Eli. He's walking with Jake and Mo; they all have homeroom together. He sees me and glares, but doesn't stop walking. As soon as he gets near me I grab his shirt and shove him to the wall.

"Whoa Drew, what are you doing?" Jake questions.

"What the hell did you do to Clare this morning?" I growl at Eli ignoring Jake and Mo.

"I didn't do anything to her, get off me you muscles-for-brains ignoramus," Eli says shoving me away. He gets me away from him a little, but I grab him again and shove him into the wall.

"What the hell is going on out here?" Coach Armstrong asks coming out of the classroom. "All of you into class, Drew and Eli I catch you fighting again it's detention for a week," Armstrong warns.

I growl, but walk into the classroom and sit at my desk. I spend all of class thinking of ways to hurt Eli if he did hurt Clare. When class lets out Eli leaves quickly, I follow and walk fast to catch up with him. Instead I almost run into my brother as he comes around the corner.

"Why do you look like you want to kill someone?" Adam questions.

"I do, Eli. He did something to Clare this morning."

"Did what to Clare?"

"I don't know, Owen and B told me he grabbed her arm and was angry because she's with me now. If he hurt her I'll kill him," I growl.

"Clare should be back from co-op soon, let's wait for her outside," Adam says. I still want to kill Eli, but I nod and follow Adam.

We sit on the banister and after a few minutes see Jake's truck pull in. She parks and we stand up, she smiles when she sees us. I love it when she smiles at the sight of me. She comes over and hugs Adam before kissing me.

"You okay? Owen and B said Eli attacked you this morning, and you didn't answer any of my texts," I comment putting my arm around her.

"Eli was angry about us, Owen and Bianca forced him to back off and told me to go to co-op. I knew he would be angry about us, even though he took drugs and cheated," she sighs.

"He do this," Adam asks brushing her arm.

I look down to see a bruise in the shape of a handprint around her arm. I start growling and let go of Clare, turning to go inside and find Eli. He hurt Clare and all I want to do right now is hurt him.

"Drew stop," Clare asserts while she and Adam both grab one of my arms.

"I'm going to kill him," I say through clenched teeth.

"I'm okay, it's just a bruise, and I knew Eli wouldn't take it well. I don't want you fighting with Eli, and neither does Adam," Clare says.

"She's right Drew, you'll get in trouble and it's bound to just fuel Eli's fire. Remember what happened last year when he couldn't let his feud with Fitz go?" Adam comments.

"Promise me that you'll just stay away from Eli, please Drew," Clare begs.

I look between her and my brother, they're both giving me about the same look, pleading with me to not fight Eli. "Fine, but if he hurts you again I can't promise anything. Come on, I'll buy us lunch from The Dot," I remark putting my arm around Clare again. "I'm really glad you didn't talk to Eli alone at your house," I say as we start walking. She doesn't reply, but does tense up slightly.

"How was co-op?" Adam asks when we're sitting down in the café.

"Okay, I was sort of distracted and didn't get a lot of work done. Caitlin was really nice about it, but she asked me to go back in this afternoon," Clare replies looking at me.

"I'll take you and pick you up," I assure her and she smiles.

We finish lunch and walk back to school, I walk with them to their lockers and then drop them at English class. I walk to my third period class and glare at Eli as I sit at my desk.

"You see Clare?" Bianca asks in a whisper.

"Yeah, she says she's okay, but she has a large bruise on her arm from his hand. I wanted to kill him, but I promised her I wouldn't fight with him. If he hurts her again though I have to do something."

"He kind of ambushed her this morning, I think she was just a little shocked, Clare can take care of herself," Bianca reminds me.

"That doesn't keep me from wanting to smash his face in," I reply. Eli hears and looks back at me with a smirk.

"You know, I'm pretty sure he had that same look last year before all that stuff with Fitz. Watch yourself," Bianca warns me.

I nod, but all I can think is that if Eli tries to come after me, Clare or Adam I'll kill him.

 **Hey look, no cliffhanger, not really anyway. Update soon will pick up from around here likely in Clare's pov and include an alumni appearance. Next story to be updated is** ** _"In No Particular City"._**


	13. It Ain't Milk And Honey We're Moving

**I hope you've all been to the DeGrassi Saviors site and cast your votes. In case you have not we are voting on which story should replace** _ **"Why Do I Want Him Still?".**_ **There are four options, three of which are crossovers and the last is a Slare story.**

 **Ch. 13** **It Ain't Milk And Honey We're Moving 'Round**

 **(CLARE)**

"Hey Beautiful, you ready to be picked up?"

It's Monday afternoon and I was just finishing my co-op shift. My second shift as I spent the morning spacing out and thinking about Eli. I had told Caitlin this morning that the bruise on my arm was from my angry ex. I told her a little more this afternoon, and that's when she asked me to come have dinner with her, Joey, Angela and Craig who was in town for the week. So, now I was calling Drew to let him know he didn't have to pick me up.

"Actually, I'm having dinner with Caitlin and her family, they'll get me home," I tell him.

"Dinner at your co-op boss' house?"

"It's nothing like Asher, the whole family will be there."

"I know, just worried I guess, and you can't blame me for that. I know Caitlin isn't Asher, and she's been really good to you. Call me when you're home tonight?"

"Of course," I smile.

I hang up with Drew and gather my stuff going to Caitlin's office. She tells me to wait a moment while she's finishing something up. When she's done, she shuts down her computer and I follow her out to her car.

"Did you ever meet Craig?" Caitlin asks me as she begins driving.

"No, but I've heard Spinner talk about him before."

"He had some struggles, but he's a good kid, and he's doing great now."

"Yeah, sounds kind of like Darcy," I nod.

"How's school going?" Caitlin questions.

"Good, I have good classes this semester, although even university track English isn't very challenging for me."

"You sound like me," Caitlin smiles and it makes me smile. We talk about our favorite authors until she parks outside of a house. I wonder if she told them I was coming to dinner, but figure that she must have. "You can hang your coat in the closet there," she says after we enter the house.

I take off my coat and hang it in the closet just as a man, that must be Joey, comes to the entry. He greets Caitlin with a kiss and then smiles at me.

"Hi Clare, it's nice to meet you, I'm Joey," he says extending his hand, "I've heard Snake talk about you, Connor too."

"It's nice to meet you too," I smile back and shake his hand.

"Craig, Angela, this is Clare. She's doing her co-op internship with me," Caitlin introduces me.

"Good to meet you," Craig grins shaking my hand while Angela smiles at me.

"Dinner's ready," Joey tells us and I follow everyone into the kitchen.

"So, do you go to DeGrassi Clare?" Craig asks.

"Yeah, I was in the gifted program in grade nine. If they hadn't offered the gifted program I'm sure I'd still be in private school. Even though my sister Darcy went to DeGrassi."

"I'm in private school, it's a good school, but I hate having to wear the uniform," Angela says.

"I went to DeGrassi, made some good friends there, and a lot of mistakes," Craig comments.

"Didn't we all," Caitlin remarks giving Joey a look. It's a look that says he made some very big mistakes in high school. "One of my biggest mistakes was Claude," Caitlin says looking down at her food now.

"Claude, he was messed up and I never understood what you saw in him," Joey shakes his head.

"I was young, he was older, dark and mysterious. He had ideals, he stood up for things, made a difference, or at least wanted to make a difference."

"Sounds like Eli," I huff.

"Yes, from what you've told me Eli and Claude seem to be very similar. That's partly why I asked you to come to dinner. When you were talking about Eli and your relationship I saw a lot of similarities in my relationship with Claude, and their behavior. Not that Claude showed the same extreme behaviors as Eli b…"

"What kinds of extreme behavior?" Craig asks interrupting Caitlin.

"Well, when we were barely official I got blackmailed into a date with a boy that had been feuding with Eli all semester. Eli's solution was to poison him with ipecac at the dance. A few months later I found out he was a hoarder. His girlfriend from the previous year had spent a lot of time at his house because she had issues with her family. One night she and Eli fought and she ran out of the house, got hit by a car and died. That's when Eli began hoarding, also when he began dressing all in black and driving an old hearse."

"That's creepy," Joey speaks up.

"I helped him clean out his room, he helped me through my parent's divorce. For a while things were good, and then Fitz came back. He was the boy that had been feuding with Eli and blackmailed me into a date."

"The one Eli poisoned," Caitlin says.

"Right, and at the same dance Fitz threatened Eli with a knife, he was subsequently sent to juvie. Just before March break Fitz was released. He found religion in juvie and came out a different person. He apologized to me, and Adam, and tried to apologize to Eli, but Eli wouldn't hear it. Eli became extremely jealous and possessive, which I hate. He'd stand outside of school waiting for Fitz to come by. Fitz did like me, and he was a little aggressive about it, but I could have handled him. Eli didn't think I could, and even after Fitz backed off Eli was still possessive. He wrote a story about us, well based the main characters on us. It was a good story and got published in a graphic novel. In the story the main character based on him wants to be with his love forever, based on me. He believes the only way he can do that is to kill her and drink her blood."

"Again, creepy," Joey says shivering a little and then looks at Caitlin, "he really does remind me of Claude."

"And, you were still dating this guy even after he wrote a story where he kills you and drinks your blood?" Angela asks.

"It was concerning, and I told him we needed some space. He took that to mean we needed more time together. Around his birthday he went behind my back and arranged for a weekend at a writer's convention. He and his dad went to my mom to get permission, for me to go away with them for the weekend. Told her I'd be sharing a room with Eli's mom, though I'm sure he would have found a way to get us alone. I told him that I wasn't going, that I needed space and we needed time apart. Instead of going with him I went to a dance at school, and so he called me and crashed his car into a wall that night. Thankfully, all he got was a broken foot and minor injuries, but he did it just to get me to come see him. He thought somehow that would keep me from breaking up with him."

"And, you're still dating this nut case?" Joey asks.

"Dated again actually, I did break up with him after the car crash. Only, Eli wasn't quite done with me, he wrote a play about us and villainized me, eventually changed the ending and then lit the script of fire on stage. He's been seeing a therapist, was put on mood stabilizers, after that he seemed to be doing better. We were pretty much keeping our distance from each other though, dating other people. My life went through some more turmoil and just before winter break last year, when it looked like that spark was back, even after everything it felt right. Even with all he put me through I still wanted to be with him again."

"Ups and downs with his moods, obsessive behavior, fixation on one thing, sounds like bipolar depression to me. I should know," Craig speaks up.

"Craig's bipolar," Angela says for him.

"You think Eli is bipolar?" I question slowly.

"It sure sounds like it, they'd have to test him to be sure," Craig tells me.

"He's seeing a therapist; she did put him on mood stabilizers. He's never mentioned that they even suspected bipolar depression."

"The hoarding and the death of his ex may have thrown them off. It took me thrashing a hotel room, proposing to my girlfriend and beating on Joey before I was diagnosed. I never hoarded, but I did do the extremes in behavior, moods, and when I got an idea in my head I became fixated, totally and completely obsessed," Craig says.

"That does sound like Eli," I nod biting my lip. "Was Claude bipolar?" I question Caitlin.

"He may have been, we'll never know, he killed himself in the boy's washroom at DeGrassi. He tried to talk to me before he did it, and sent me roses and a letter essentially blaming me for his death. Saying it was my fault because I broke up with him," Caitlin tells me.

"He killed himself?" I exhale remembering Eli driving into a wall. Then my mind begins playing out all these scenarios of Eli killing himself because I won't talk to him.

"He needed help and he didn't get any, if Eli gets the help he needs he'll be okay. Joey and I can call Eli's parents after dinner if you give us their number. I'm sure Craig can take you home," Caitlin volunteers him.

"Yeah, no problem," Craig smiles.

"So Clare, is Caitlin a good boss?" Joey asks changing the subject to something lighter. I spend the rest of dinner talking about how wonderful it is to work with Caitlin. Then Joey and Caitlin talk about themselves, Snake and his wife in high school. Craig talks about Spinner in high school, and then Angela talks a little about her school. I help clean up after dinner and all together I'm at their house for almost two hours.

"Thanks for dinner, and for the advice. Here is Eli's mom's cell phone number, good luck," I tell Joey and Caitlin. Angela decides to come with Craig to drop me off and talks the whole way about her friends at school. "Thanks for bringing me home Craig," I smile before getting out of the car.

"No problem Clare, I hope it goes well with Eli."

"Bye Clare," Angela waves.

I say goodbye and head inside, Mom asks how dinner was and I tell her it was nice before going up to my room. Getting my phone out before I set my purse down I find Drew's name and click on it. I hear it ringing and sit on my bed kicking off my shoes.

"How was dinner?" Drew asks.

"It was very informative," I reply.

"What do you mean?" Drew questions.

"I was telling them about Eli's behavior, well, actually, I had told some of it to Caitlin earlier. She had a motive for asking me to come to dinner. Eli reminded her of a boy she dated in a high school a boy that killed himself."

"Eli's angry that we're together but he w…" Drew begins to argue and then cuts himself off.

"Drive into a wall? It was more than that though, I pretty much went through all the extreme behavior I've ever seen or heard of Eli doing. Caitlin's stepson is bipolar and he thought it sounded like Eli was bipolar. Caitlin and Joey were going to call Eli's parents and talk to them. I hope they listen, that Eli's therapist does what is necessary to find out if he's bipolar."

"I'm sure Eli's parents will get him the help he needs. How's your arm?"

"It's fine, it's just a bruise. How was work?"

"Good, until I saw Asher."

"You didn't do anything did you?"

"Just glared at him any time I had to walk past his office," Drew tells me just as my phone buzzes.

"Caitlin's calling, let me call you back."

"Okay, call me back when you're done," Drew says before hanging up.

"Hi Caitlin."

"We spoke to Eli's parents; they are going to call his therapist tomorrow and talk about the possibility and what they need to do to for a proper diagnosis. I gave them our numbers if they needed to talk, and told them about Craig and our concerns," Caitlin tells me.

"Good, I'm glad they're going to get him the help he needs. Thanks for doing that Caitlin."

"Of course Clare. I'll see you at co-op tomorrow."

I hang up with Caitlin and call Drew back. I tell him what Caitlin told me, we talk for over an hour before hanging up to get ready for bed. Of course when I can't sleep I call Drew back so he can put me to sleep with sports stories and statistics. I fall asleep with a smile on my lips listening to my Drew's voice.

 **(ADAM)**

"Eli better stay away from Clare today," Drew growls as we walk into school Tuesday morning.

"You're not going to fight Eli," I remind my brother.

"Not so long as he stays away from Clare," he replies with gritted teeth.

"Clare's probably at her locker, or waiting at your locker to kiss you before she goes to co-op," I comment.

"Good point, I'm going to my locker first, if she's at hers text me," he says.

"Yeah," I nod as Drew goes down the hall. I walk to my locker and don't see Clare, Jake's truck was in the parking lot, so she's not at co-op yet. I open my locker and put in some books. From the corner of my eye I see a figure approaching, but it's not Clare.

"We have to break them apart, she can't be with that idiotic, pretty-boy, muscles-for-brains, jock," Eli growls.

"You know that's my brother you're talking about," I respond shutting my locker.

"I know, and I'm sure he's a fine brother, but Clare deserves so much better than him."

"Like you I suppose, you cheated on her Eli, took drugs and cheated on her. Even before that she was falling in love with Drew, th…"

"SHE'S NOT IN LOVE WITH HIM," Eli yells slamming his hand on the locker next to mine. He turns and storms off, I watch him go before walking in the direction of Drew's locker. I see him talking with Owen, but I don't see Clare anywhere, of course I don't see Eli anywhere either.

"You find Clare?" I ask Drew.

"Yeah, she was waiting for me, I kissed her and told her to have a good time at co-op."

"Good, saw Eli already, don't fight him Drew."

"What'd Eli do?" Drew asks with a growl.

"Yelled, said a few things, that was it. Just stay away from him Drew, as much as you can, don't provoke him," I warn my brother.

"As long as he doesn't hurt Clare again, or get in my face," Drew responds.

"If Eli tries anything I'll help you beat the crap out of him," Owen offers.

I shake my head and walk away, there's no use in trying to talk them out of fighting. I just hope Eli is smart enough to keep his distance. At this point I'm hoping Eli tries to make Clare jealous by rebounding. I doubt Clare would get jealous, but at least that way Eli wouldn't get beat up.

"You look worried," Dave comments when I get to class.

"Eli wants to break up Clare and Drew, my brother is all too happy to pound Eli's face in if he tries anything, and Owen is all too happy to help him."

"What about Clare?" Dave questions.

"She hates violence and doesn't want anyone fighting, and she's in love with Drew, I know she won't get back together with Eli. I'm not worried about Clare; I'm worried about what Eli will try. And, worried that my brother thinking it's a good idea to fight him."

"I'm sure Clare will keep him from fighting," Dave says just Armstrong clears his throat and calls us to attention. I sit down and look at the chalkboard while Armstrong starts writing a problem on the board.

I'm sure Clare will keep my brother from fighting, I'm more worried about what Eli will try. Also, worried what might happen next period when Drew and Eli have class together. When first period lets out I send a text to Drew reminding him not to fight or provoke Eli in any way. He doesn't reply, not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I'm thinking about it all through second period. Not that I have to think all that much in music class.

"You okay?" Jenna asks after class.

"I'm going to go wait for Clare," I tell her.

"What happened?"

"Nothing yet, but I don't want Eli to find her first."

I walk out to the front with my backpack, I don't even go to my locker. Although, I do text Drew to stay away from Eli and come wait for Clare. I sit on the picnic table waiting to see Jake's truck, I see it pull in a moment later and walk over to where she's parking.

"What's wrong?" She asks getting out of the truck.

"Eli's determined to get you back, wanted me to help break up you and Drew," I tell her.

"Another scheme?"

"I don't know, probably. I tried talking to him, but he didn't listen of course. I told Drew to stay away from him, but I have no idea what Eli has planned."

"I didn't get anywhere near Eli," Drew says coming up and wrapping his arms around Clare. "As long as he stays away from us I'll stay away from him. Maya's looking for you little bro."

"Oh, we were going to have lunch," I exclaim realizing I forgot about my girlfriend while worried about what Eli might be scheming.

"I'm in good hands Adam, go find Maya," Clare tells me.

"I'll bring her to class after lunch," Drew says.

I smile at them and run back inside, I find Maya at her locker and greet her with a kiss. I buy us lunch from the caf and we eat in the garden. After lunch I walk Maya to her locker and then to class. When I get to English class Drew is dropping Clare off, they share a kiss, Drew grins at me and walks off to get to his own class.

"How was lunch with Maya?" Clare asks.

"Good, we had a nice time. How was lunch with my brother?"

"Nice, we ate off campus so we didn't see Eli. You and Drew are still coming over for dinner aren't you?"

"Of course we are, if you don't have co-op this afternoon I can come over right after school."

"No co-op, I did everything this morning," she smiles.

"Cool, I'll ride home with you and Jake then. You think Drew will stay away from Eli in class?"

"I hope so," she sighs.

When school is out we walk to our lockers where Drew finds us. He kisses Clare and says he'll meet us at Clare's when he's off work. I say goodbye to Maya before leaving with Clare and riding in Jake's truck to their house. Jake goes straight to the kitchen for a snack while I follow Clare up to her room to do homework. We have it all done by the time her mom gets home and starts on dinner. Clare and I go down and help her mom with dinner. Drew arrives at almost the same time as Glen and just as we're finishing dinner. Drew helps Jake set the table and we all sit down.

"So, Drew you're a year older than Clare aren't you?" Helen asks as soon as we begin eating.

"Mom," Clare snaps at her, "Eli and Jake are both a year older than me."

"I'm just asking a question Dear," Helen replies.

"Yes ma'am, I'm in grade 12 with Jake," Drew nods.

"So, you'll be graduating this summer then?" Helen questions.

"I hope so, Adam got the brains in the family," Drew says looking down.

"Don't listen to him, Drew is great at lots of things, he struggles in some school subjects, but he's not dumb. He's doing great at his job," I speak up for my brother.

"That's right you work at the Interpreter," Jake says.

"Yeah, in marketing under Martin Christensen. I was worried about Asher's behavior long before Clare saw it."

"I'm glad someone saw it," Helen remarks.

"So, how do you like marketing?" Glen questions.

"I love marketing, not that I've done very much marketing mostly grunt work. Martin is a good boss and I've learned a lot from him. I think I'd be pretty good at marketing," Drew says.

"I think you'd be great at marketing," Clare smiles.

"Yeah, you've always been good at knowing what people want, and charming people," I remark and Drew smiles.

"Do you have plans for after graduation Drew?" Helen inquires.

"I'll probably go to Centennial for a couple years, see about getting my grades up and what's involved in a marketing degree."

"That's a very wise decision Drew," Glen says, and both Clare and Drew smile.

"Thanks Glen, anyway I'd like to be here for Clare during all the pre-trial stuff. And, of course be here for the trial as well," Drew says taking Clare's hand on the table. This small act of supportive affection makes Helen give my brother an approving smile.

"If there even is a trial," Clare huffs.

"There will be a trial, I'm sure that slime has sexually harassed others. There's no way he started with you," I comment.

"I sure hope so, we haven't heard a thing," Helen comments.

"It could be months Mom, they have to do a full investigation and see if there's even enough to go to trial. Then it could be a year or more before it gets to trial. Until there is a trial, if there is a trial, Asher is out there free," Clare grumbles and Drew squeezes her hand.

"Yeah, but he won't get anywhere near you again, and I'll be here with you for all of it," Drew assures her. Clare smiles and kisses his cheek, and my brother gets that goofy grin on his face.

Jake changes the subject of the dinner conversation and Helen seems to be out of questions for Drew. We stay for dessert, but Helen won't let us help clean up.

"I'm going to walk Drew and Adam out," Clare says as we get our coats. "Thanks for coming to dinner, both of you," Clare grins hugging me and then kissing Drew. "I'll see you both at school tomorrow," she smiles as we get in the car.

"You sure charmed her mom, she was smiling pretty big by the time we left," I comment as Drew starts driving home.

"Guess I am good at charming people, anyway as long as Clare was happy so am I," Drew says and I grin.

 **(CLARE)**

"I have to get to co-op, see you at lunch," I tell Drew when I catch him at his locker Wednesday morning.

"Have a good co-op shift," Drew says ensnaring my lips for a quick kiss.

I leave Drew and start walking for the front doors, but feel like I'm being watched. I look around, but the hallway is filled with kids, and it doesn't seem as though any of them are watching me. I shake the feeling and go out to the truck, but as I'm pulling out the parking lot I see Eli watching me from the steps.

It's not so much that he's watching me drive off that gives me a worried feeling. It's the look in his eyes, that look he gets when he's scheming. I've seen that look too many times, and I worry what his scheme may be. Adam already told me Eli wanted to break me and Drew up. As soon as I park at the station I send a text to both Torres brothers.

 **Clare: Eli was watching me from the steps, I think he's scheming something. Be careful both of you, and Drew no confrontations unless absolutely necessary.**

I didn't want to alarm Drew, but they have second period together and I want Drew to be on alert. At least, I know Adam will be pragmatic about it. They should also be getting into class, so I doubt either will reply right now.

As much as I'm worried about it once I'm in the office and greeting everyone I push Eli from my mind. Caitlin has me editing copy today, which I much prefer over filing and other grunt work. I send it off when I'm done and with nothing else to do Caitlin says I can sign out a few minutes early. I'm able to get back to school and stow my books before the bell even rings for lunch. I would go wait for Drew at his second period classroom, but he has the class with Eli. So I decide to walk to his locker and wait for him there.

"Hey Beautiful, how was co-op?" Drew questions.

"It was good, I got to edit the copy today, that was fun," I comment as Drew is stashing his backpack in his locker.

"Good, come on, let's go have lunch at The Dot," Drew says putting his arm around me and walking quickly for the front door.

"Is there a reason you're rushing me out the front door?" I question.

"I'm not rushing you, I just don't want to give Eli tome to find you and watch you again. I'm glad you don't have any classes with him."

"Did something happen in class?" I query as we exit the front doors.

"Just the usual dirty looks, but I don't like that he was watching you before he left."

"I just don't like that he looks like he was scheming," I sigh.

"I'm sure he was scheming, and he wants to break us up, and given what he's done in the past, I like it even less," Drew responds.

I take Drew's hand but I don't respond, I'd like to say there's no reason to worry, but there is. I know there is, and I can't argue that there isn't. I can however hope that either Eli drops it or decides trying a scheme isn't going to work.

Drew holds the door for me when we get to The Dot, and we order. He pays while I get us a table, and joins me with our drinks a moment later.

"So, I've been thinking that I need to take you on a date. A real one, I don't think us getting coffee, and staying out all night because you can't sleep counts as a date," Drew comments.

"A date would be nice, how about Friday? You could pick me up after work, even if I'm working that afternoon too."

"Perfect," Drew grins reaching across the table to take my hand.

I grin and rub his thumb with mine, we stay like that until the waiter brings our food. We don't talk very much over lunch, and we don't linger at the café. We do walk back to school slowly though.

"Maybe, we should go around to the garden entrance," I remark when I see Eli waiting on the front steps.

"I'm not going to let him intimidate me," Drew growls.

"And, I don't want the two of you fighting, I don't even want to walk past him, let's just go to the garden entrance," I request tugging Drew that way.

He tightens his arm around me, but he listens and we go in through the garden. Drew walks me to my locker and then to class, kissing me at the door. We pull away from the kiss just as Adam walks up, and Drew musses his brother's hair before leaving.

"Seen Eli again?" Adam questions as we sit at our desks.

"He was on the steps when Drew and I came back from lunch. Has he said anything to you today?"

"I think after he realized I wasn't going to help him he's been avoiding me. He hasn't said a word to me, or looked at me all day. If he is scheming something I have no idea what it is."

"I don't know if that makes me feel better or worse," I huff sinking down in my desk. Adam pats my arm, but doesn't say anything else.

I make it through school without seeing Eli or even hearing about him. Drew steals me for a kiss before he leaves for work, I meet Jake at the truck and he drives us home. Then leaves almost immediately when his dad calls and asks him to join him at the job site. Jake calls that he's leaving, I hear him lock the door, and almost as soon as he's gone I hear the doorbell ring.

 **This story has one more chapter in it, so the next chapter will be the last. Replacing this will be** _ **"You Ought to Have Me On Your Mind"**_ **and when that end it will be replaced by** _ **"This is Life & I'm Wondering If We Should Play it a Different Way."**_


	14. All My Heart

**Last chapter guys, it's pretty short but I hope you guys enjoy it anyway. I probably should have just made the last chapter extra long, but oh well. I think at one point I had more that I wanted to go into this chapter. If I did it left my brain and hasn't come back.**

 **Anyway, please enjoy the last chapter.**

 **Ch.4 All My Heart**

 **(CLARE)**

I walk down the stairs and see Eli on the other side of the exterior door. I pause at the bottom of the stairs, a little unsure if I should open the door or call the cops. I bite my lip and look at him, he doesn't look angry and he's not glaring, his eyes aren't narrowed, his neck vein isn't bulging. Still I'm not sure it's safe to open the door.

"What are you doing here Eli?" I ask through the glass door.

"I just want to talk, please let me in Clare," Eli pleads.

I take a deep breath and open the door, hoping I'm making the right decision. We walk into the living room and I stand with my arms crossed.

"What is it Eli?"

"I came to apologize Clare. I don't like that you left for me Drew, I really don't get what you see in him, but I want you to be happy. If that's being with Drew then…I can accept that."

"Really Eli?"

"I'm not happy about it, but I can accept it, it's going to take some time, but if he's who makes you happy that's what I care about. As much as I hate to admit it, I watched Drew with you all day and you were happy. Drew really does care about you, and I'm sorry for everything. After Caitlin and Joey talked to my parents they talked to my therapist, and she set me up with tests, and a new medication. I am bipolar, which is a little scary, but at least now I know what it is and there's ways of dealing with it."

"I'm sorry Eli, but it's good that you know what's going on now."

"Yeah, I don't feel so much like I'm losing it. I'm sorry for everything I put you through, for scaring you, getting angry. My emotions were out of hand, there was no middle, and I couldn't let go of things."

"At least you know now, and with time, counseling, the right medications I know you'll do great Eli. I know you're not happy that I'm with Drew now, but I appreciate that you're accepting us together. He really does make me happy, but you will always be my first love Eli," I tell him and kiss his cheek.

He gives me that smirk of his that made me melt in the first place. Gives me a small hug and then leaves. I feel like a weight's been lifted and wave to Eli as he drives off. After locking the door again I return upstairs to finish my homework. My homework is done and I'm about to go downstairs when my cell rings. I smile when I see it's Drew calling and answer.

"Hi, are you done at work?"

"Yeah, just leaving, it was good. I didn't see Asher once."

"I'm glad, Eli came by this afternoon a…"

"He did what? Are you okay?"

"If you had let me finish Drew I would have said he came by to apologize. He's accepted that we're together now, he's not thrilled about it, but he's accepted it. He knows you make me happy, and he is bipolar. He's on new medication, and we're okay now."

"That's good, does that mean we don't have to worry about him glaring at us anymore?"

"I think so, he wasn't exactly thrilled about losing me to you, but said he accepted it. I feel like a weight's been lifted from me. Now we just have the weight of Asher left," I sigh.

"Yeah, that will probably weigh on you for a while unfortunately, it's going to take a while to go to trial. At least you don't have to see him anymore, and you have a co-op internship that you really like."

"Yes, that I do. I love working for Caitlin," I grin.

Drew and I stay on the phone until he gets home, and we say goodbye. Over dinner I tell my family about Eli coming over to apologize. They're all happy to hear it, I also tell my mom I have a date with Drew Friday night.

Drew calls me again later that night and we talk until we're nearly asleep. Thursday and Friday are much better days at school. Eli doesn't exactly come and talk to us, but he does at least smile at me, and even nods to Drew. Drew of course has work after school Friday, but I do not, so I go home and begin getting ready for our date.

"Wow, you look amazing," Drew grins when he picks me up for our date. "Should I go home and change, feeling sort of underdressed now," Drew comments as I close my door and we walk to his car.

"No, you look great," I smile.

Drew grins and starts driving, he talks about work on the drive, I don't mind. He has a passion for his work and Martin is a great boss the way Caitlin is. We have dinner at a lovely, delicious, and pricey romantic restaurant with an amazing view. We're at the restaurant for over two hours as we eat slowly, talk and just enjoy being together. After dinner we walk down to a bakery, get dessert and drive to a nearby park. Drew gets a blanket from his trunk, and we lie it out under the grass, eating dessert, watching the stars and each other. When the dessert is gone Drew lies down and puts his arm out, I lie with him my head on his chest looking up at the stars.

I feel warm and safe in Drew's embrace, loved, nurtured, beautiful. I look up at him and smile and he grins back at me. Our lips meet for a softly sweet, loving lustful kiss.

"I love you Drew," I exhale when our lips part.

"I love you Clare, with all my heart."

 **(DREW)**

"I can't believe after two years, two months and ten days it's finally over," Clare remarks as we leave the courtroom. I put my arm around her shoulders and she puts her arm around my waist.

The two of us spent the last four days of our lives at Asher's trial. It took over two years to even get to trial, and there's been many times in the last few years that Clare wondered if it was worth it. There were a few times we thought it may not get to trial, especially in the beginning. However, other interns were found that had been assaulted by Asher, they could no longer press charges, but it was more evidence to back up Clare's case. Eventually, there was enough for pre-trial proceedings to begin. It's not the only thing to have consumed the last two years of our lives, but it was a large part of it.

Clare and I went to senior prom together, she saw me graduate. Eli did graduate too, but didn't walk with the rest of the class, he'd been offered a job as a P.A. on Brett Barnett's film. He couldn't pass up that opportunity and he left as soon as exams were done. He's still in New York and going to NYU film school, and from what I hear from Adam and Clare he's very happy. He's living with his bipolar disorder and working it, and he and Clare were able to find friendship again.

I've been attending Centennial since graduating and will be going to U of T next year for a marketing degree, and I still work for Martin. It hasn't been easy sharing an office with Asher the last two years, but I've done what I can to avoid him. I love my job and I wasn't going to give it up, although I have had to restrain myself from punching Asher in the halls a few times.

Clare and Adam both graduated last year, and both had a choice to make. Stay in town or go away to school, they both got several offers from very good schools. The decision wasn't that hard for Clare, she'd have to leave me and her family, and her job with Caitlin. Yes, she kept the job and was even maid a paid employee after her internship was over. She also would have had to come back to Toronto for the trial. She decided to stay and has been attending Ryerson this year. She's getting a masters in English and a bachelors in broadcast journalism.

The decision was harder for my brother, but he decided to stay as well, he's also attending Ryerson for a broadcast journalism degree. He's got a job at the same radio station Bullfrog works at. The three of us share a modest two bedroom apartment, it's not the best apartment, but we like it and it's all ours. Adam and Maya broke up the summer I graduated. At the beginning of this school year Adam met a girl in his drama class, and they've been dating ever since.

Jake stayed in town too, attends Centennial with me and is partners with his dad in Martin construction. He did move out of the Martin-Edwards home and shares an apartment with Mo. We see Jake, Helen and Glen quite a bit, dinner every Sunday night and of course holidays. Jake and Katie stayed together even after she moved to California to go to school. It only lasted a few months before the long distance became too much and they broke up. None of us kept in touch with Katie, but Jake's been dating a girl he met at Centennial for almost a year now.

Bianca isn't far away at Wilfrid Laurier and she often comes home to visit every few months. Dallas was recruited to a hockey team in Japan, he loves it there and they broke up amicably when he left. He's dating a Japanese girl now, and Bianca met a boy in one of her law classes. Alli is attending Cal-Poly and dating a new guy every few months. Jenna we've all lost touch with, and Connor is at Yale. Dave stayed in town and is going to U of T now, he's been dating a nice pre-med student the last few months. He and I still get together to play basketball on occasion. Owen was given a football scholarship to University of Nevada in Las Vegas. We stay in touch and see him when he comes home, and he's always talking about his new girl, he's even dated a couple of show girls. He loves Vegas and keeps saying we should come visit.

"Finally over, but somehow a five year sentence doesn't seem like enough, he could be out in two with good behavior. We'll still be here," Clare remarks.

"Yeah, but you won't have to see him and he's been convicted now. That's going to follow him, there's a chance that the paper won't keep him," I assure her as we get in my car with my brother.

"That's true," she nods.

"Hey, he's been convicted, it's over and you won, let's go celebrate," Adam comments.

"Yeah, it's a victory two years in the making, we deserve to celebrate," I smile.

"I'm glad you were both here with me," Clare smiles. I grin and take her hand as I begin driving. I take us to her favorite restaurant, she was kind of spaced out during the drive, but when I park she gives me a big smile. Before we go inside she gives me a passionately salacious kiss. "I love you Drew."

"I love you too Clare," I grin, "with all my heart."

 **Well that's it, as I said I should have just made the last chapter longer. Instead you get a very short last chapter. I considered also posting the first chapter of** _ **"You Ought to Have Me on Your Mind"**_ **which is replacing this. I decided against it however, I'm sure people are excited for that one, but it hasn't gone up yet and it's not like people are waiting for the next chapter. So, the next story to be updated is** _ **"In No Particular City"**_ **. Keep an eye out for the premier of "You Ought to Have Me on Your Mind" coming soon.**


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